Of Aliens and Ancients
by DarkPhoenix444
Summary: What would you do if a chance came about to end the greatest threat to the known galaxy? Would you throw away everything you know, and join forces with your enemies? Or would you risk dooming the galaxy to death? The answer lies within you, Inquisitor...
1. Chapter 1

_Of all the things in this universe,  
There is nothing more frightening  
Than a lack of knowledge.  
I would rather face down a thousand  
Horrors that I know about,  
Than a single horror about which I know nothing.  
_- Inquisitor Vecchio

There comes a time when a person is crouched down behind what used to be a rather nice column, with bolter shells, las bolts, and occasional bursts of warp-fire flying overhead that a person just has to think to oneself; "What the frak did I do to get myself in this position?"

I was at that time.

I took a quick peek over the top of the downed column, risking taking a round to the face, to ascertain how many of the cultists were left. I knew that on our way into the building, my group and I had eliminated a fair few of their number, before more and more of them started coming. Looking around, I saw at least twenty of them firing from covered positions, with more of them simply standing in the open, either charging or hurling Chaos sorcery at us.

Speaking of us, I quickly ducked back down, but not before one of the cultists managed to nick my hat with a las round. I removed the hat at stared at the smoldering furrow left in the material. Patting out the smolders, I put the hat back on, determined to find the bastard who had done this and make sure his end was remarkably painful.

I heard a chuckle next to me, and looked over to find my companion, and friend, Umberto Trelli crouched behind the column as well. After glaring at him a moment, he finally spoke. "God- Emperor have mercy on the poor soul who just shot your hat. I know how protective you are of that thing."

"Damn right," Backing up words with action, I raised my bolt pistol over the column and unleashed a flurry of poorly aimed shots. There were just so many cultists that it was almost guaranteed that I would hit something. No one damaged my hat and got away with it. The hat was a gift from my old mentor, given to me on the day I became a full Inquisitor.

I pulled the bolt pistol back down after it started dry clicking and swiftly reloaded it. Looking at the bolt pistol, one could almost mistake it for a bulky las pistol, instead of a bigger bolt pistol. But that was because the pistol was modified to the point where any tech priest who saw it would cry heresy. Something that my own tech priest had done for a while before he learned to just ignore it because I was not going to let him change it. The pistol was modified to be lighter, with an overly sensitive trigger. It still packed the punch of an un-modified bolt pistol, just lighter and easier to fire. It was painted black with gold filigree inlaid on the handle in High Gothic script, and more High Gothic winding its way down the barrel.

Risking another look over the column, I saw that I had indeed hit some of the cultists. Two of them were down and if the blood and viscera around them was anything to go by, would not be getting up again. Another cultist was still standing, but that was only because he was propped up by an upright column. The fist sized hole in his torso meant that he was most likely quite dead as well.

A warp-fireball came flying at me and I instinctively ducked, even though the sorcery sputtered out of existence a few feet from my position. I wondered why these cultists continued to use Chaos sorcery when it was completely ineffective. On the other side of me from Trelli, sat a woman holding a las pistol in each hand, occasionally snapping off a shot or two at the cultists, she was the source of our good favor.

Aki, as she was known to all, was a small woman, barely cresting five feet tall, but she was what is known as an untouchable. In a radius around her, psychic powers simply stopped functioning. She was one of the only reasons that my group was still alive at this point. With the sheer number of enemy psykers ranged against us, her abilities had saved us already on many occasions.

I tapped the comm-bead in my ear. "Okay, everyone aim for the psykers on my command. Take them out and I will end this myself."

There came several replies in my ear, and one simply click of acknowledgement, which would come from my long-las specialist and sniper, a guy named Hecuter Donavon. Where he was, I had no idea, most likely in some dark corner up high, picking off cultists one by one.

"Remember, watch out for Xandria, don't hit her, wherever she is. On my mark…" I peeked out over the column one more time, seeing the psykers still just standing in the open, conceited bastards. "Mark."

At my command, Aki, Trelli, and myself swung our weapons over the column and opened fire, aiming for the psykers and downing them. I saw Trelli and his bolt pistol take out one psyker, the cultists head simply vanishing in a puff of blood and brain matter. Eldritch energies poured out of the neck, going wild and arcing towards the other cultists nearest to the man. The sickening smell of burned flesh rose as cultists were burned and consumed by the warp-fire.

Taking careful aim, I fired my pistol at a group of the psykers, hitting several of them and knocking them over. Their compatriots turned and started to flee, but the lead one was stopped when the point of a sword poked out of his back. I could not see the look on the man's face, but it was most likely priceless. The sword disappeared back into the man's body and he collapsed. Suddenly, other cultists started to fall over, some spurting blood from severed necks and arteries, others missing limbs entirely.

I saw one psyker simply fall over, a neat hole blown in the side of his head. I knew that to be Hecuter's work. In the space of a few seconds, most of the psykers were down and the others were fleeing. Only the regular cultists were left.

Turning to face Aki, I shouted. "Aki, now!" The woman reached up to the necklace she always wore and hit a switch. Suddenly, I felt free and complete again. Aki had switched her limiter on, blocking her untouchable ability. The return of my psychic powers was always a heady feeling, almost like taking a drug. I felt suddenly a rush of what could be called euphoria.

Shaking my head, I quickly ranged out with my powers, finding the remaining cultists and figuring out which one had shot my hat. I found the man hiding behind an overturned table and decided to save him for last.

Projecting my consciousness out of my body, I saw the world in a whole new way. Everything had a sort of glassy sheen to it, as if it was fragile. People and other life-forms lit up, surrounded by an aura of light, marking their positions. I saw Trelli and Aki next me, Trelli holding on to my body carefully. Hecuter I found wedged into a crevasse on top of a pile of rubble, concealed in the shadows. Xandria, my death cultist, was still concealed in the shadows behind the cultists, her sword dripping with the lifeblood of her kills.

I moved unseen amongst the cultists, sowing death in my wake. An aneurysm here, a stopped heart there, the cultists fell one by one, dead or dying. I never relished the deaths that I caused like this, in my opinion a person deserved the chance to die in battle, not against a foe that they could do nothing about. Sometimes though, expediency won out and I had to use my powers in this way.

When the only thing left alive was the man who had shot my hat, I turned my full attention to him. Being a powerful psyker in my own right, I entered the man's mind with the full force of my being. He could not take it. The man screamed, holding his head in his hands as blood leaked out of his ears, nose, and tear ducts. He screamed and screamed, as I psychically shredded his mind and sanity. Eventually it became too much and the man's head exploded, showering the surrounding area in blood, bone, and small chunks of brain matter.

I will admit to relishing that one, but he deserved it for shooting my hat. As I reentered my body, feeling the arms of Trelli supporting me, my eyes opened and I perceived the world normally again.

Taking a deep breath before sitting up, I looked over the column again. Death looked back at me. There were cultist bodies arranged everywhere. Blood and other matter coated almost every surface where they lay. Looking back at Trelli, I saw that he was staring at the man whose head had exploded.

"Damn boss, let me guess. That was the one who shot your hat, right?" He asked me, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"If I need to answer that question," I responded, "Then you obviously don't know me." We both smiled at that, knowing that indeed we knew each other very well. But decades of gallivanting around the galaxy together, fighting xenos and Chaos, will do that to a group.

I tapped my comm-bead again. "Regroup everyone, by the archway." Aki, Trelli, and I moved forward, through the cultist bodies to the archway that the fleeing psykers had gone through. According to the schematics of the building, the archway led down a hallway to a smaller chamber, which was presumably the throne room of the cult leader that we were after.

As we reached the archway, a section of the shadows peeled off from itself and revealed itself to be Xandria. Shortly after, Hecuter came jogging up, his long las slung over his shoulder.

I took a good look at the people around me. Trelli was tall and very well built. A former hive-ganger from Sameter, he still sported the tattoos along his arms, signifying his status as an elite member of the Kys gang. He had short brown hair, cropped close to his scalp, and, as was his habit, had a lho stick behind his right ear. I had never seen him smoke, but he always carried one. I had met him on one of my first missions as a full Inquisitor, on Sameter. I was posing as a noble in order to gain access to a suspected dark eldar cult. He tried, rather unsuccessfully, to kidnap me and hold me for ransom. Needless to say though, I was impressed with his balls. When he found out that I was instead an Inquisitor, rather than soiling his drawers like most people, he actually seemed quite unimpressed. He did let me go though, and even gave me information regarding the cult I was hunting (as it turns out, he only did this because the cult had been a pain in his ass for a while, and he wanted me to destroy it for him). I offered him a job with me, as part of my crew, after I had wiped out the cult and he rather surprisingly accepted. That was over sixty years ago.

By contrast, there was Aki. Short, with long black hair, she was a very beautiful woman who just happened to be an untouchable. It is unfortunate that a side effect of being an untouchable is that it is exceedingly difficult to form a personal bond with one. Most untouchables are doomed to live their lives alone. Psykers, such as myself, cannot touch them without incurring pain beyond just physical. She is an accepted member of my team, and even gets along quite well with Hecuter, but sometimes I wonder if she is still resentful about being born an untouchable. I met Aki shortly after I met Trelli. She was being held captive by a corrupt businessman when I rescued her. Being a psyker, I immediately knew what she was, and offered to take her with me. She agreed and has been with me ever since.

Xandria is an entirely different story. She just showed up one day. I was relaxing in the home I lease on the agri-world of Hollow. It is a quiet place, where people do not really bother others, yet it is still a friendly place. Honestly sometimes I think that the townspeople where I live are honored to have an Inquisitor living with them. But I digress. I was relaxing/recuperating at home after a rather trying mission, when Xandria literally showed up. Trelli opened the door to the house to find her standing there. She gave him a note that had my name on it, and then walked past him into the home. Unsure of what to do, Trelli gave me the note, after escorting the black-clad woman into my study. It turns out that she was a member of a death cult that had pledged itself to my mentor, and he had sent her to me, to be a part of my team. She is a very nondescript woman, at least her face is. She always wears a black bodyglove and is always festooned with blades. Her sword, throwing knives, and daggers. Since she came to be with my team, she has proven to be invaluable. Being a death cultist, she has been trained from birth in the art of death.

Hecuter, my sniper, is an interesting character. He was once an Imperial Guardsmen, but when I found him, he was a drunk, living in the streets of Perlia. His only possession was his long-las, the very same one that is currently slung over his back. He followed me for a while, when I was on Perlia, begging for money and asking if there was anyone I needed killed, for a small fee of course. Since he was getting on my nerves, I finally showed him a picture of my target, a rogue trader who was ferrying a Chaos cult across the galaxy, and told him that if he killed this man, I would pay him well. Hecuter saluted and shambled off. To my vast surprise, two days later I spotted the rogue trader and was following him through a marketplace when he stumbled and fell over. When he did not get back up, I investigated. I found him lying on the dirt, a neat hole in the side of his head and exiting the other side. I wondered what could have happened, when the drunk man I got rid of two days ago found me later, as I was pondering in a bar. He sat across from me in the booth and asked if I liked what he had done. It took a moment, but I finally realized that he had taken out the rogue trader. Needless to say, I followed through on my promise, and hired him to join me. He is a tall and reedy man, who looks like you could knock him over just by glaring, but he is one of the best shots I have ever seen, and can hold his own in a fight.

The five of us stood outside the archway. "Okay, at least five or six psykers made it through here. Aki, turn your limiter off and follow behind us. Trelli, you and I will go in first. Hecuter, stay back with Aki and make sure nothing happens to her. Xandria, stick to the shadows and try and get behind whoever is in this room. No one does anything unless we are fired upon first, or at my signal. Let's try and get these guys alive."

After receiving four nods, we started off down the hallway. There was almost no light in the hallway, so immediately Xandria simply vanished. I have always marveled at her powers of stealth. She can vanish in almost any shadow, and move silently, a real feat with the amount of blades she carries around. She strikes and is gone before the enemy even knows what hit them. The rest of us, even though we were moving as quietly as possible, sounded like an explosion next to her.

The hallway was long, and decorated with carvings on the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. The carvings once depicted great heroes and triumphs of the Imperium, but had now been desecrated by the cultists, such that you had to work to figure out what they were. Curiously however, there were none of the usual Chaos sigils carved around, no eight pointed stars, no symbols that hurt the brain to look at them, none of that. I figured that the cult was relatively new, and had not been able to do that yet.

We reached the end of the hallway, and stepped out of the shadows into a smaller room. This room was narrow, only about fifteen feet across, and perhaps thirty feet long. At the opposite end of the room from where we were, a man sat in a chair atop a raised dais. Well, perhaps sit is the wrong word. He was lounging in the chair as if he had no care in the world. As soon as we entered, he looked at us. Surrounding him were indeed six men wearing the robes of the cult. The cult leader, as I assumed him to be, raised a hand and pointed at us. The six psykers stood and as one began to unleash more warp-fire at us.

Fortunately, due to Aki's presence, we were not immolated where we stood. Instead, we raised our weapons and fired at the cultists. One went down immediately, several bolt rounds penetrating his torso and blowing it apart. Another suffered a las round to the head, while a third went down under concentrated fire from Aki's pistols. The fourth and fifth went down simultaneously with small throwing knives sticking out of their eyes. The sixth one suffered from both bolt rounds and las rounds, before he simply collapsed in a pile of his own entrails.

Only the man in the chair was left, and he was smiling. I stepped forward and raised my bolt pistol, aiming it squarely at his head. "In the name of the God-Emperor and His Holy Inquisition, I hereby place you under arrest. Drop whatever weapons you may be carrying, place your hands on your head, and come quietly."

The man started laughing. His voice rang out across the room as he laughed, and indeed began to clap as well. Like we were performers in some show who had just finished some spectacular feat. I was taken aback at his reaction. Normally, when someone realizes that the Inquisition is arresting them, they either curl up into a ball and cry, or they launch into a last ditch attack. Either way, they tend to void their bowels first. This man however, seemed wholly unconcerned that the most powerful organization in the Imperium was about to arrest him, or kill him if he attacked.

When the man was done laughing, he looked me straight in the eyes. "You are an Inquisitor?" he asked. I sighed. Honestly, I had gotten used to the looks of disbelief, and the occasional snickers from other Inquisitors meeting me for the first time. But I would be lying if I said that it did not still annoy me. I am well aware that at five foot one, I did not look like most people's version of an Inquisitor. Add that to me being a woman, and having youthful features, and most people simply took me for a young woman, sometimes even a teenager. Although it should be known that I was not the shortest on my team, I had half of an inch height wise on Aki, something I was quite proud of.

Usually I would smile and fake-laugh with people when they showed incredulity that I was an Inquisitor. This time, however, I was tired and pissed off, a deadly combo for those against me. I reached into a pocket of my jacket and pulled out my Inquisitorial Rosette, the sign of my office and my badge. I showed it to the man. "Yes, I am an Inquisitor. My name is Inquisitor Arianna. I will only ask you one more time, put your hands on your head and come with us quietly."

The man smiled at me once more. "Very well, I surrender to your company." He stood up and stepped down off of the dais. Placing his hands on top of his head, he stood there patiently and waited. I approached him cautiously, knowing that my teammates would be covering me, and would shoot him at the slightest sign of movement.

When I reached him, I quickly grabbed his hands and placed him in cuffs. Dragging him behind me, I rejoined the others. "Spread out and search this place. Gather up anything related to the cult, papers, cogitators, anything. Be thorough." Aki and Hecuter nodded, before heading back out down the hallway. Trelli stayed behind to search the room we were in.

I got on my comm-bead. "Were done here, bring in the ship and be prepared for a prisoner."

"What, only one prisoner? Did you have a bad day Arianna?" teased my pilot.

"Yes I did, someone shot my hat," I responded to her.

The link was silent for a moment, though I could hear Trelli snickering from behind the dais. "Oh," came the reply. "Well then, I'm surprised that there is even one prisoner. Usually when this happens you leave no one alive."

"Just bring in the ship and let's get out of here."

"Yes ma'am," was the sarcastic answer. I could almost see my pilot grinning and saluting me from behind the controls.

"Mordecai," I said, still talking into the comm-bead. "Mordecai?" Only silence greeted me. "Come on old man, I know that you're listening in to this."

Finally there was a reply. "Yes ma'am? What do you need?"

"When you get here, I need you to assist in the search for evidence from this building. Help the others, and get what you can out of this place."

"Yes ma'am," came the simple reply.

I shook my head. I must have interrupted something very important to him, perhaps he was researching the mating habits of some long dead species, or looking up some other useless piece of information, because usually you needed a shock maul just to get the man to shut up. Mordecai is my savant, my source of information. The man never forgot anything, he has regaled me with stories of something from his childhood, and the man is well over two hundred years old. I am less than half his age and probably cannot tell you what I had for breakfast last week, while he could tell you what he had for breakfast two hundred years ago, as well as how much of it and how many bites it took him to finish it.

I left the chamber and went back down the hallway. I came back to the room where the battle had taken place, and surveyed it in more detail this time. The room was large, with a high, vaulted ceiling. I'm almost certain that this had once been a place of worship, as the columns, and the raised area where an altar would have been seem to suggest it. Some of the columns had been knocked over and there was rubble where sections of the wall had fallen in. The whole place had the look of having been abandoned for quite some time, which fit with this particular section of the hive that we were located in.

I tried to remember what planet we were on, but could not for the life of me do so. My ship had been en route to Pradia VII when we had received an astropathic communication from Lord Inquisitor Nykos to divert to this world… God-Emperor what was the name of this world…? Lixion, that was it, Lixion. Although it would be better off being named Ass End of Nowhere. I suppose this planet had once been a thriving place, at least judging by the size of the hives. Most of them were abandoned, or inhabited only by those who have nowhere else to go, who did not leave when the leaving was good. On the way to this building alone, we ran into junkies, joy girls, mutants, and several different breeds of xenos.

And those were the ones out in the open. I almost shudder to think what hides in this city. It is no wonder a Chaos cult sprang up here, it is nearly inevitable under such conditions. On a planet where poverty is not merely a factor, it is the damn way of life here. If I thought that it would help, I would simply Exterminatus the whole planet and leave. Unfortunately, the amount of sheer paperwork that would involve, as well as the briefings and questionings, made that not really an option.

Listening, I heard the distinctive sound of my ship coming in on approach. Just as I was wondering whether my pilot would pull her usual fly-girl shit, the entire building rattled as the ship went screaming by on a high speed pass, before quickly banking and coming in to a landing, only shedding speed when the ship was practically scraping the ground.

When the building started rattling, I wisely decided to move towards the nearest column that was still standing, just in case a portion of the roof picked that moment to drop in and say hi. When the sound of the engines to my beautiful ship diminished, eventually vanishing altogether, I knew that it was parked outside and that Mordecai and my pilot were on the way inside.

Sure enough, about a minute later, the two of them walked into the room, or in Mordecai's case, shuffled in. Mordecai was a wizened looking old man, and he played the part quite well too, but I knew that he could really step up and surprise a person if needed, as many an adversary has found out to their detriment when the harmless old man suddenly springs forward, steals your gun, and shoots you with it.

My pilot on the other hand, looked no older than twenty, and acted like it as well. In reality, she was actually about forty, but she preferred if no one knew that. Her name was Liliy, but we all just called her Lils, mostly because it annoyed her. She may be young, and had only been on my team for about five years now, but she was one of the best pilots out there, and as long as she continued to out-fly and dodge all of the trouble that we run into, I can put up with her teenage tendencies.

Indeed, even now she was wearing a low cut top which revealed way too much chest, as well as pants which simply screamed "Joy girl" at you. There were times when I wanted to bend her over my knee and just go at it, but then I realize that I would only be acting the age that she makes me feel. Lils and I had quite the love-hate relationship going, but I suppose that was normal of the team that I had assembled. We may be dysfunctional, but we know when to buckle down and get the job done.

I waited and let Lils and Mordecai approach me. No sooner had he got to me, than Mordecai stopped and immediately went over to one of the columns, took out the data slate he always carried, and started to make notes on it, muttering to himself about different types of columns, dates, and places. Lils, on the other hand, stopped in front of me, saluted, and then immediately reached for my hat.

After batting her hand away, she pouted. "Come on, let me see the hat, I want to see the damage to it."

"Lils, I'm tired and really don't have the patience for this right now," I replied, still fending off her ever-reaching hand.

"But Ari, come on," she persisted, calling me by that ridiculous name she made up one day. Finally I relented and let her snatch that hat off my head, which was easy for her being that she is at least five foot five.

She spent a moment inspecting the hat, quickly finding the new furrow that the last round had made in the material. She turned it over in her hands, before placing it back on my head at some odd angle. Looking at that a moment, she corrected the angle and moved that hat until it was hanging half off of my head and practically dangling from my ear.

"There, you look much better wearing it like that." She smiled at me as she inspected her handiwork.

Adjusting the hat back to its normal position, I said, "Yeah, but I feel like an ass, so no. Just go back to the ship and clear out the hold for the prisoner." She pouted at me again, but I pointed back towards the door and the ship and she turned away, head down and shuffling her way back. To this day I am still not sure why I allowed her to touch my hat. Generally if someone tries to touch my hat, I try and kill them. I suppose it is because in some way, I feel like a mother around her, indulging her child in some silly way like that.

I shook my head and reached up to the comm-bead in my ear again. "Xandria, please escort the prisoner to the hold of the ship and chain him up, tightly. Make sure that bastard is going nowhere." There was no response, but there never was. As a death cultist, she had taken a vow of silence until her quest was fulfilled. What that quest was, I had no idea. I just know that most death cultists never utter a word in their entire lives, mostly because they never live long enough to do so. The life of a death cultist is generally short and violent. Xandria is perhaps an exception, because she has been with my team for quite a while now.

I waited for a moment until I saw Xandria, with the cuffed man thrown over her shoulder, walking down the hallway. I joined them as they passed me, walking slightly behind them and covering the man with my pistol. He looked up and saw me, where he actually had the audacity to wink at me, before looking down again. I think it was at that moment that I decided to not be nice during my interrogation of him.

The three of us exited the building to find my ship, my yacht, settled such that the landing ramp started a mere foot from the door. Again, I marveled at the skill of my young pilot. We walked up the ramp and into the ship, which could easily be mistaken for the boat of some rich noble family, heading for the cargo hold. Inside the hold, Lils was busy clearing out the middle of the room, shifting some boxes around and cursing as she did so.

So engrossed in her cursing, she did not even notice us enter the cargo hold. It was only when she had gotten to some rather interesting ways she was going to use Mordecai's staff on me did I bother to clear my throat. Startled, she dropped the box she was carrying, which was thankfully only a box of foodstuffs, and not one of Trelli's boxes of explosives that he brings on every mission. "Oh ma'am, I didn't see you there," she said, managing to look absolutely everywhere in the cargo hold with the exception of where I was standing.

"Apparently," I answered. "Listen, if you aren't happy with the job I have assigned you, you can always volunteer to go clean up the remains of the last person to cross me. I believe that you would need a bucket and sponge for that job."

I will admit that while it was cruel, watching her face go pale was ever so worth it. "Ah n-n-no ma'am, I'm quite happy here, moving boxes."

I smiled at her. "I'm sure that you are."

It was not long before Lils had cleared out the center of the hold, and together Xandria and I, using some of the chains both hanging from the ceiling and attached to the floor, chained the man up tightly. For good measure, I lowered the cage that I keep on a lift towards the ceiling and sealed him in there. And for extra good measure, I turned on the power to the cage, sending currents of both electricity and psy power through the material which made up the cage. If he touched the cage now, he would be either electrocuted, or blown backwards by psychic force.

As we were finishing this up, the rest of the team came back in, Trelli dragging Mordecai with him. Aki and Hecuter were carrying some data slates that they had most likely found. "Ma'am, we searched the whole place, and there wasn't much. Either this cult knew we were coming and cleaned house, or they didn't believe in keeping records of any kind. Aki found a few data slates, but other than that, there's nothing there."

I nodded. "Okay, good work ladies and gentleman. Today we broke a Chaos cult and now we get to head home for some well deserved relaxation time."

Trelli pointed to the man currently residing in the cage. "And what are we going to do with him?" he asked.

"Well, he is coming with us, where he will be a guest of the Inquisition until such time as I can arrange to have him shipped off somewhere more permanent."

Lils looked up from where she had been rifling through a box. "So he is coming to our home?"

I stared at her. "Yes Lils, he is." Seeing the bright look on her face though, I continued. "However, he will be placed under lock and key in the holding cells, which need I remind you that you are still banned from that area?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "No ma'am." Then under her breath, but still loud enough where I was clearly meant to hear it, she muttered. "Dear Emperor. Let one measly guy loose accidently and I never hear the end of it."

I turned to face her. "One measly guy? Not only did he manage to escape the house, he stole my precious ship and very nearly escaped the system. It was only our luck that a Navy frigate intercepted him. And this was after, by the way, we had all spent months tracking him down and apprehending him." I was not shouting at her, indeed I was quite quiet, and not mad at all, mostly because after this incident, I had shouted at her until I was blue in the face, and then promptly threw her into the cell next to him for a while. "So yes, you are still banned from that area, and whoever is on guard duty still has orders to shoot you if you try and go in."

Her only response was to call me a spoil sport and stick her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Oh just go pilot this ship back into orbit, then dock with _The Cordelia Rose_ and get us home, I'm tired. Everyone is dismissed. Xandria, you get to stand first watch over the prisoner. And remember, if Lils tries to get in here, stab her first, then come find me."

The group broke up the chuckles and snickers, before they all left the cargo bay, except Xandria who stood by the wall, still as a statue. I left shortly after, after double-checking the cage, making sure it was working properly. I went down the hall to the stately room, and promptly laid down on the couch along the wall. Trelli was across from me, cleaning his pistol while Aki and Hecuter were next to him, talking about what they were going to do once we got home. Mordecai was over at the table, surrounded by data slates and making notes on another one.

I heard the engines start up, felt the familiar vibrations as we lifted off and began the journey into orbit. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, leaving instructions to wake me once we docked with our ship in orbit, _The Cordelia Rose._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was an hour later that I was awoken by the feeling of someone touching their hand to my shoulder. Instinct, honed by many years of sleeping in situations where the enemy could sneak up on you at any time, caused me to grab the offending hand and attempt to break it.

Fortunately, the person attached to the hand was equally quick and stopped me before there were any snapping sounds. It was only then I opened my eyes and saw the face of Trelli hovering over me. There was a cheeky smile on his face that for some reason made me want to smack him.

"Ah yes, the famed combat instincts of an Inquisitor. I see they still work even when she is asleep, albeit not very well," Trelli said through his smile. Giving in to the temptation, I took a swipe at him with my hand, but he easily dodged it. "See what I mean," he returned.

I just groaned and told him to shut up before I really started trying. His only response was to grin even more and inform me that I was welcome to try. I just shook my head and sat up from the couch, looking around. Mordecai was still at his table, still working on some project of his and not even bothering to glance over at us. Hecuter had taken to cleaning his long-las, the stripped pieces of it arranged carefully on the floor around him. Aki looked like she was napping in her chair, her head dangling down and her eyes closed.

"You know," came the voice of Mordecai, "I wish that the two of you would stop fight…"

He was swiftly interrupted by Hecuter. "Mordecai, not now. Just let the two of them have at it. Who knows, perhaps a nice fight is exactly what they need right now." He had stopped cleaning his weapon and looked up at the wizened old man sitting at the table. I could not be sure, but I thought I detected a hint of a smile in his voice.

Mordecai sighed and finally looked up from his slates. "I just think that perhaps things would be better if it were to happen. I mean according to my experience and knowledge…"

Again he was interrupted by Hecuter, only this time because the man was laughing loudly. The look of indignation on Mordecai's face did nothing to still the laughter either, in fact it is probably what got him laughing harder. I had no idea what the two of them were talking about, but was silently grateful to Hecuter for cutting off Mordecai, because anytime the word knowledge was mentioned we were usually treated to a long lecture on just how extensive that knowledge was.

I looked over at Trelli, but he was staring avidly at the ceiling. "Trelli, while these two argue, go check and Xandria and the prisoner, make sure everything is alright. I'm going to head to the cockpit and check on our status." He nodded, without meeting my eyes, and headed off towards the cargo bay.

I watched him go for a moment before turning around myself and heading for the door into the cockpit. Behind me I heard Hecuter stop laughing long enough to gasp out, "Experience? Since when do you have any experience with this?"

He should have known better than that around Mordecai. As I stepped into the cockpit and closed the door, I could hear Mordecai beginning what I was sure was going to be a very long winded speech about his experiences in whatever they were talking about.

It was with gratitude that I closed the cockpit door, sealing out Mordecai and his speeches. I should have known that it would not last long. No sooner had the door closed than Lils looked up from her controls and smiled at me. "Have a nice nap?" she asked.

Resisting the urge to rise to the bait, I just nodded and dropped into the co-pilot's chair. "How long until we dock with _The Cordelia Rose_?"

"Not long now, another minute or so." She adjusted the stick and our little yacht rolled, bringing our bigger yacht into view. I stared at my ship, taking in her sleek lines and her paint job. There has been many a time that fellow Inquisitors have mocked me for choosing a yacht as my personal ship, but _The Cordelia Rose_, or as we called her, _Rose_, has gotten me through many a tough spot by opponents who have underestimated her.

On the outside, she looked like a nobleperson's pleasure yacht. A long sleek craft, painted a rather garish mixture of blue and white, she was in fact an old pleasure yacht that I acquired after its previous owner had the misfortune of running afoul of pirates. Once the bodies were cleaned out of it though, it made for quite the nice ship. And once all of the improvements had been made to it, it made for a very nice Inquisitorial ship.

Her engines had been upgraded and improved, becoming faster and able to weave nimbly among asteroids and debris fields, as well as dodge incoming fire. Her sleek lines hid and disguised numerous armaments and guns. I would bet on my ship against most armed merchant men and rogue trader ships. A fact that had been proven before. On the inside though, not many changes had been made. The ship was still very opulent and had many suites, each one extremely comfortable. After all, a girl had to have her nice soft bed to lie in at night. Several rooms had be transformed into holding cells, that was a necessity of course, but the ship still made a nice home away from home.

As I sat in the cockpit and watched, Lils brought our ship into the docking bay of _Rose_, landing us without so much as a bump. While she attended to the shutdown rites, I got up and exited the cockpit, where sure enough, Mordecai was still going on about his knowledge. Hecuter had a look on his face that suggested he might vomit at any moment, and I decided to rescue him, especially since Mordecai was apparently describing a hotel room in great detail at that point. Aki had woken up, or she was never really asleep, and was also looking quite disgusted.

"Mordecai, shut up please." I waited a moment to make sure that he really was going to shut up before continuing. "Okay, we've docked with _Rose_, so here's what's going to happen. Mordecai, I want you to take the slates we got from the cultists and go over them. Mark anything of importance and compile it all. Bring them to me when you are done. Hecuter, you and Aki get to have some time to relax. Grab a bite to eat and some sleep or whatever. Trelli," I looked over at the man who was sitting on the couch. "You, Xandria, and I will be transferring the prisoner to the holding cells. Everyone clear on this?"

I received a round of nodded heads, before Mordecai began to pack up his slates, putting them into a bag he slung over his shoulder. Hecuter reassembled his weapon with practiced speed and care, before standing up. Aki simply stood up and went over to the door, lowering the ramp and stepping out of the ship.

Trelli got up off the couch and walked beside me as we went into the cargo bay. "You know, you missed a very interesting story from Mordecai there. I think he might have been about a tenth of the way through it or so when you came back in," he joked with me.

I just turned to look at him. "I think I have heard enough Mordecai stories to laugh me more than one lifetime," I responded, suppressing a shudder. He just laughed and kept walking. We made it to the cargo bay where everything was exactly as I had left it an hour ago. The prisoner was still bound tightly inside the cage with Xandria still over by the wall, in the exact same position as when I had left. I swear that sometimes she scared even me. I was just glad that she was on my side and not against me.

Without having to speak, each of us knowing our parts, we set to work transferring the prisoner. Trelli headed over and turned off the cage, before lifting it back towards the ceiling. Together, he and I undid the chains around the man, while Xandria stood right behind him, hand resting on the hilt of her sword. I knew that if the man so much as breathed wrong, she would draw that sword and lop off his head before the rest of us could blink.

Once the chains were undone, Trelli grabbed the man by his manacled hands and lifted him up onto his feet. I led the way towards the ramp of the ship, with Trelli in the middle and Xandria bringing up the rear. I was impressed with the prisoner; as I was loathe to admit even to myself. Generally by this point, my captives were either sobbing uncontrollably, screaming obscenities at me, or begging for me to free them. The one thing that all my prior prisoners had in common was that they were making some sort of noise. The utter silence from this man innerved me. He was not a normal prisoner. Even the method of his capture was unusual. He had simply let himself be captured, nether fighting nor cowering.

I had no idea what this man wanted, what he might be planning, but I could not help but shake the feeling that whatever it was, we were walking straight into it. The thought was not a pleasant one. Anyone who wanted to be a prisoner of the Inquisition had serious head problems, or was planning something.

We reached the ramp and headed down it. At the bottom of the ramp, standing straight and still in his Imperial Navy issued uniform, was the captain of my ship, a man named Decem. He had once been a Captain in the Imperial Navy, until his ship had been captured by raiders and he had been imprisoned aboard their ship. The raiders, still heady after their victory over an Imperial warship, had come across a noblewoman's yacht and decided to make one more raid before heading back to their base. Needless to say, the yacht was mine and once all the raiders were dead and the prisoners rescued, Decem had offered to join my crew. Perhaps he sensed that his days in the Imperial Navy were over, after all he had let raiders board and take his ship, or perhaps he simply wanted a little more adventure than patrolling space in a warship. Either way, he came onto my crew and when my previous captain retired, he took over.

When I reached the bottom of the ramp, Decem saluted me, a habit that I have unfortunately not been able to break him of, and then began to speak. "Ma'am, your ship stands ready to go. The crew is anxious to be getting home." Straight to the point, no small talk, that's one of the things that I liked about Decem.

I nodded. "Good. Set course for home then, back to Hollow." He nodded back at me before saluting one more time and executing a perfect parade ground turn on his heels, he marched off. I smiled and chuckled at him. You can take the boy out of the navy…

I turned back to motion to Trelli and Xandria to continue on. It was then I caught sight of my tech-priest, Ailish. She was underneath the transport, checking something out. Ailish was unique for a tech-priest in that she got along perfectly well with unaugmented humans. At one point, I was as part of a joint operation between the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus to retake a forge that had fallen to a Chaos uprising, supported by several regiments of Imperial Guard. Ailish had been the tech-priest assigned to guide us to our location. She had been quite fascinated with my group and once the operation was over, asked to tag along with us. I agreed, as having a tech-priest on hand to keep all our equipment in working order is a very nice thing.

Trelli, Xandria, and I continued along, out of the landing bay and into the corridors of the ship, most of which were carpeted and painted in bright colors. I led our procession down towards the rooms that had been transformed into holding cells. There, the opulence ended, replaced with stark and Spartan areas.

I opened a door and Trelli led the prisoner inside. There he was sat in a chair and quickly chained to it. Inside the room, besides the chair, was another chair, and a small table that was bolted to the wall. Once the prisoner was secure, we left the room and I activated the room's defenses. There was a small pictcaster in one corner of the room, and the images it recorded could be viewed on a station outside the room. The door would now set off an alarm if anyone touched it from the inside, and if the man had somehow managed to hide the fact that he was a psyker from me, which was not very likely, he would find himself unable to break out with that method. The door was made of a psy-nullifying material, and would not be bashed open with psychic powers.

Satisfied that he was not going anywhere anytime soon, the three of us left the holding cells. Trelli split off and headed in the direction of the main lounge, while I, with Xandria in tow, went to the bridge.

On the bridge, Decem was in the process of getting the ship ready for translation into the warp. The man was standing next to the captain's chair and watching the viewscreens that were scrolling with data about the ship. Without even looking away from his screens, he greeted me with another salute and a sharp "Ma'am."

"You do realize that you don't have to salute me, right?" I asked him, even though I already knew the outcome of this conversation.

He shook his head. "Protocol dictates that I salute the master of the ship," he answered, again without looking away from his screens.

I just shook my head and sighed. I suppose when a person is born to parents who are both in the Navy, raised on Navy ships, and has spent his entire life around the Navy, certain habits are just hard-wired into a person. I stood next to him and viewed the screens as well, even though all the information scrolling across them meant nothing to me. I just wanted to be on the bridge for when we translated into the warp.

The activity on the bridge was intense. My crew was made up of humans, rather than servitors, so there were people at the various stations below and in front of the command area. I watched the hustle and bustle of activity, always impressed at how each member of the crew knew what they were supposed to be doing, and going about it with an air of efficiency. Occasionally someone would call out something to another person, but for the most part things were done quietly.

A message came across one of the screens, and it was one that even I knew what it meant. Our navigator had laid in a course to Hollow and we would be making the transition shortly. The activity on the bridge picked up as the message was relayed across the consoles, and soon enough, there was a shudder than ran its way down the ship as we made the transition to the warp.

Once the shudder ceased, Decem finally turned to look at me. "Transition successfully made to the warp ma'am," he reported.

I nodded my head. "Good job Decem. And good job to the rest of you fine gentleman as well," I said in a louder voice to the rest of my crew. For their part, they just nodded; the ones who looked up at any rate. While their lack of attention may have put off some people, I knew they appreciated the gesture.

Ready to leave the bridge, I turned to face Decem. "I leave the bridge in your capable hands Decem. How long until we reach Hollow?"

Turning to acknowledge me, he answered. "Two weeks of warp travel ma'am." I nodded and received another salute from him as I left the bridge, my ever silent cultist in tow as usual. I headed for the main lounge, where I figured my companions would be gathered.

As I approached the lounge, I could hear what sounded like an argument. Sighing, I stepped into the lounge to see who was arguing about what this time. What I found was rather amusing instead. Hecuter and Trelli were sitting across from each other and arguing over who had killed the last psyker in the firefight against them in the cult's main room. The two of them have been keeping track and comparing the number of kills in a mission for a while now, part of some ongoing competition between the two of them.

Aki was watching the confrontation with an amused smile, but I know that if asked, she would side with Hecuter. The two of them tried to hide it, but we all knew that they were having a relationship. Honestly, considering the unluck that tends to follow untouchables, I was glad that she had managed to find someone to be with. She sat there and I could see that her eyes were watching Hecuter closely, and that he kept glancing over at her as he argued with Trelli.

Trelli was noticing this and hiding a smirk, but continuing to argue with Hecuter all the same. I came over and sat down on a chair across from Aki, such that the four of us formed a square, with Xandria taking a position against the wall close by, but still on alert. In all the years that I had known her, I have never seen Xandria relax. Even when she was in her room, which was right next to mine and even that had been a battle to get her to have her own room and not just stay in mine, she was constantly on alert.

Listening to the argument, I gathered that the dispute was such a big deal because the two of them were tied, and that last kill was the tiebreaker. Unable to resist the urge, I had to butt in to the conversation. "I have an idea," I said with a smile. "Why don't we simply award the kill to me, which if I recall correctly from the battle, I beat both of your scores."

Immediately, both men objected. "That would not be fair Arianna," said Hecuter.

"Agreed," came the response from Trelli. "After all, I'm not sure that we can count all those cultists you killed in the large room. The usage of psychic powers means the kill doesn't count towards the over all score."

After both men nodded their heads, I put on a shocked face. "What? What do you mean the usage of psychic powers doesn't count?"

The two of them looked at each other. "Well see, it's like this…" started Trelli.

"Since neither of us has psychic powers, and you do, that gives you an unfair advantage. So only kills made without psychic powers count, to even the playing field," finished Hecuter.

Putting away the shocked outrage, I simply smiled sweetly at them. "Oh well if that's the case, then I think Xandria wins. After all, she almost single-handedly killed most of the cultists before we even hit the large room, and I killed most of the one's in the room, and you both killed one and a half to her two in the final room, so I say she wins."

Both Hecuter and Trelli looked at me like I was crazy, while Aki was silently laughing in her chair, her hand over her mouth to stifle the sounds. Xandria simply stood still, as if she did not care whether she won or not, and most likely she did not.

"Do you gentleman have any objections to that?" I asked them.

"Is that legal, is she even playing this game?" Trelli asked me.

I reached over and smacked him upside the head. "Of course she is playing; this game is open to any member of my crew." He rubbed the back of his head and glared at me for a moment before sighing.

Shrugging his shoulder, he conceded defeat to the black clad death cultist. I glanced at Hecuter and he silently nodded his head and agreed. I smiled greatly and raised my hands. "Great! It's all settled then. So now we move on to the awarding of the prize."

Trelli looked askance at me. "Prize, what prize?"

"Why the prize for getting the most kills on this mission of course. And the prize is simple, Xandria gets to pick the person who is going to cook the next meal for us."

Immediately, both men stood up and starting going off about how that was completely not fair. I stood as well, albeit slowly and raised both my hands, bringing them down in front of me, gesturing for them to be quiet. "Now, now boys, are you sure that you want to object to this, and rid Xandria of her prize?"

They both took a look at Xandria, still standing by the wall, who had one hand resting casually over one of her throwing knives. Wisely, they both withdrew their objections and sat back down. I nodded my head. "Very good. Now then Xandria, who do you pick to cook the next meal?"

Knowing that she would not speak a name, but was quite capable of pointing to her intended target, the four of us watched as her eyes flicked over each of us in turn. It looked like she was about to make a decision when a living tornado of energy bounded into the room.

"So, what's going on in here?" asked Liliy as she came towards us. Without even pausing to stop, she grabbed a chair and quickly bounded over the back of it, almost landing on Aki who had been occupying the chair and literally threw herself into an empty couch. Once she got settled, which for her involved a liberal amount of shifting and wiggling into the cushions, she looked up at us.

"Why is everyone staring at me, and why is Xands pointing at me like that?" she asked. We all looked over at Xandria, and sure enough she was pointing a finger directly at Liliy. All at once, we started laughing, and seeing the confused look on Liliy's face we laughed even harder.

Finally, Aki explained to Liliy about the game and what had happened. As soon as she got to the part about cooking the next meal, with a large grin on her face as she relished this, most likely in retaliation for Liliy nearly landing on her, Liliy went from listening intently to shock.

"What!" she exclaimed. "That is so not fair. Ari, come on…" she whined. "You know I hate cooking, can't Aki do it, she makes the best food."

I just smiled at her and shook my head. "The rules of the game were clear, and Xandria gets to choose whoever she wants, and she chose you. So off you go, to the kitchen."

After a bit more whining, Liliy got off the couch and shuffled her way out of the room, clearly wanting everyone to know that she was pouting. As soon as she had left, we all started laughing again.

For a while after that, we spent the time talking amongst each other. Ailish came in and joined us at one point, sitting next to me. At one point, I caught one of her mechadendrites attempting to ease my bolt pistol out of its holster on my hip. Even though she has accepted that my pistol is and will continue to be modified, that does not stop her from occasionally attempting to grab it. It has turned from a "Grab it and un-modify it," into simply "Grab it just to say that I have," contest.

Admittedly, she almost had it this time. Her one mistake was that the sights on the front of the pistol got caught on the holster and the tugging alerted me. I pretended to not notice and let her remove the pistol from the holster, but as she was taking the pistol back over to her, I casually drew a small dagger and told her that if she did not hand over my gun, she would be short one mechadendrite.

Sighing, she handed the pistol back over to me, and renewed her vow that one day she would get it from me without me noticing. I just smiled at her and told her she was welcome to try.

Liliy came back with a meal soon after that. And we all ate together, talking and laughing over conversation and food. The only one that was missing was Mordecai, but he did not often join us for meals.

Once the meal was over and cleaned up, which we all cheerfully left to Liliy, we were still sitting in the lounge when Mordecai came in carrying a dataslate. I looked up at him, and the expression on his face immediately brought an end to my good mood.

"Arianna, I have been reading over and compiling the dataslates recovered from the cult, as you asked, and I have come across some disturbing things." If it was something that could disturb Mordecai, then I knew that whatever it was, it required my attention.

I got up out of my chair and went over to where he was standing, the eyes of everyone else in the room following me. I took the dataslate proffered by my savant and glanced at it. It seems that the contents of most of the slates were the usual Chaos shit; rituals, sigils, summoning, binding, nothing that I had not seen before. It was what had been on the final slate that was so disturbing. It was a note, written by the head of the cult, the man who was currently sitting in a holding cell on this ship. The note was addressed to one Inquisitor Katarina Arianna, or to be more precise, me.

I looked up at Mordecai, knowing now why he brought this to my attention. The cult leader had know that I was coming, and yet he had allowed it to happen. This confirmed my suspicions that he had allowed us to kill his followers and capture him. The remaining question was still the same though, and that was why? Why would this man, who had foreknowledge of the Inquisition's arrival, my arrival, not run away? I could think of a few scenarios in my head, and none of them boded well for myself and my companions.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention Mordecai." He simply nodded in return. I turned around to face the others. "There has been a change in plans. I will be interrogating the prisoner now, instead of waiting." It was quite usual for me to wait a day or two before interrogating a prisoner. The food and water deprivation, combined with the squirming knowledge that they were in the hands of the Inquisition usually did wonders to soften them up.

Everyone nodded their heads. "Aki, come with me," I said. The small woman stood up and walked over to me. "Mordecai, please fill everyone in on what you discovered." Without another word, I left the lounge, heading towards the holding cells, Aki right beside me. Along the way, I filled her in on what we had found, and the reason she was coming with me. If he knew we were coming, he might have some psyker powers after all, and so she was there to cancel that out. I did not even have to turn around to know that Xandria was behind us.

We reached the holding cells and I turned off the defenses on the cell our prisoner was in. Aki opened the door and I stepped inside the cell, finding the man still sitting in the chair, chained to it. Xandria took a position along the wall just inside the door and stood there, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Aki came into the cell, shutting the door behind her and she stood next to Xandria, one of her las pistols un-holstered and ready.

I took a seat in the other chair in the room and faced the man. He stared at me. "Greeting Inquisitor," he said in a deep voice. "How has your evening been?"

The question surprised me, even though I should have expected something like that from this man. He did not act like a normal prisoner at every turn, and here he was asking me how my day has been as if we were sitting across from each other at a restaurant instead of a holding cell.

"You knew," I said, refusing to answer his question. He just looked at me and raised a single eyebrow. "You knew that someone was coming for you and your cult, specifically you knew I was going to be the one."

The man chuckled. "Of course I knew. I take this to mean that you found my little letter to you, inviting you to come talk to me?"

"Of course I did," I spat at him. "Why the frak else would I be here? My question is how did you know?"

The man smiled at me. "Uh-uh, You did not answer my question." I just stared at him. "The question that I asked you when you came into this cell with your two lovely lady friends here." He explained, looking over at Aki and Xandria. "Let's see, a death cultist, that one is obvious, Xandria is your name. I would wait for you to confirm that, but you haven't completed your quest yet, so you cannot speak. The other one, your name is Aki and you my dear have a very rare gift, an untouchable." I saw Aki start when he mentioned her name.

He noticed that as well. "Surprised? Don't be, I know all about you, and your teammates." He turned back to me. "Now then, you still haven't answered my question Arianna."

I reached out and hit him as hard as I could. He barely seemed to feel it though, so I hit him again. His only response was to chuckle again. This set me off, and I began to hit him over and over. I am not normally a fan of beatings during interrogations, but this man just seemed to piss me off.

It was only when Aki grabbed my hand and held me back that I stopped. The man, sitting there chained to a chair, yet still managing to have an air of control around him, simply looked at me. "Are you done now Arianna?" he asked. I glared at him with a glare that had made Lord Generals squirm in their seats, but the man was unfazed.

"Here is how this is going to work. You answer my question and get to ask one of your own. I will answer and then ask another question. This pattern will continue for the interrogation." The man had the sheer arrogance to try and control the situation. I was tempted to start beating him again, but realized that would accomplish nothing. I wanted answers from this man, and he was offering me a chance to get them, I just had to play along with his ridiculous game.

Forcing down my anger and pride, I answered his question. "Up until now, my evening has been fine."

He nodded his head. "Good, now you may ask me a question."

"Let's start with how you knew I was coming?"

He smiled at me again. "Simple, I engineered the situation such that you coming was the only possible outcome." I was taken aback at his answer. I had figured that he had wanted to be captured, and the note meant that he knew I was coming, but I had not actually expected him to admit to it. "Now my question. What would you be willing to do to defeat the enemies of Mankind?"

"Anything," I answered without hesitation. He smiled at his answer, as if it somehow made him happy. He had to know that I considered him an enemy of Mankind, and would either kill him or hand him over to an Inquisitorial facility, depending on how the interrogation went. "My turn. Why did you want to be captured, why me?"

The man let out another chuckle, a deep, throaty one. He looked at me and smiled, no grinned. "That dear Arianna, is a long story…"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I sat across from this man, staring at his bald head as he chuckled, contemplating his answer. I had come in here with the sole notion of figuring out why this man had wanted to be captured, and why he wanted to be captured by me of all people. I supposed that being caught by me was better than being caught by other Inquisitors. I was a bit more of a softie according to others. I tended to treat my detainees better, rather than simply torturing them or executing them outright.

Instead of answering my question though, he had laughed and told that I instead got to listen to a story. As I sat there, I could not help but feel that I was not the one in control of this interrogation, and the feeling was not a welcome one.

I watched the man across from me, noticing him for the first time. He was quite unlike all the other Chaos cult leaders that I had seen and caught before. He was tall, at least over six feet, with a bald head that was devoid of any tattoos. Every other cultist, and especially the leaders, generally had sigils and eight-pointed stars tattooed all over their bodies. Just by looking, I could see that this man had no tattoos, no markings, no brands. In fact, his body was quite devoid of any markings. The man did not even have a freckle or birthmark that I could see.

I pondered again on everything that was off about this whole situation. At first, going into the whole thing, taking my team into the cult's hideout, it all seemed so simple. Take out the cult, capture the leader for interrogation about his/her activities and then later execution, and then go home for a well deserved break. The first part was easy enough, taking out the cult and capturing the leader. But now that I thought about it, the whole thing seemed too easy. The cult barely put up a fight, insisting on using psyker powers when they were clearly not working. Even the ones with the guns, with that many people ranged against us, they should have been able to hit something, yet all they hit was my hat.

I was brought back to reality when the man stopped chuckling and looked up at me. "So then Inquisitor, the question for you is…" he paused then, and stared at me with his blue eyes. "Will you listen to this story?"

I opened my mouth to answer him, or more accurately to tell him to shut the frak up and tell me what I want to know, but he interrupted me. "I should warn you, this story will seem incomprehensible, made up, and you will most likely want to tell me shut the frak up, but I promise you that I will be able to provide proof to all of my claims as well."

I can only assume that the look on my face was enough to tell the man that that was exactly what I had been thinking, as he smiled at me, showing off his perfect teeth. I pondered for another moment, trying to decide whether I really wanted to hear him out, or whether I wanted to simply take out my gun and give him proper cranial ventilation. I finally settled on taking my gun out of its holster and setting it down on the table next to my chair, where I could easily grab it.

"I will listen to this so called story of yours, but if I don't like where this is going, I swear on the Golden Throne that I am going to take this bolt pistol, and I will shoot you with it," I told him, resting my hand on the grip of the gun.

He looked at me again. "Very well then, you are more than welcome to that." Something about the way that he said that made me think that me shooting him was something that he had either accounted for already, or perhaps he did not prepare for it, and was simply trying to shake me off of shooting him.

My hand still resting on the gun, I stared straight at him, narrowing my green eyes into slits, attempting to give him my best Inquisitorial stare. A stare that had once made a Lord Admiral literally wet his pants. In this case though, the stare was doing absolutely nothing. In fact, he seemed to actually enjoy my stare, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I should warn you that you cannot intimidate me Arianna. Although I must say that your stare is quite good." In response to that, I stopped staring at him and gripped my gun, lifting it off the table slightly.

"Get on with your story, or I shoot you."

The small smile turned into a larger one. "Very well then," he repeated. "We will start where all good stories start, at the beginning." I would assume that if he were capable of it, he would be leaning back in the chair, hands folded in his lap. As it was, the cuffs and chains prevented that, but he still had an air of smug comfort about him.

"I suppose that I will start off by asking you a question. Tell me, are you a believer? Do you believe in the Holy God Emperor? Read the books and know the verses, all that good stuff?"

"Of course," I answered instantly. "Well, I can't quote you scripture and verse completely, but I believe and I have read them," I amended.

"Good, then you will know the answer to my next question, or at least an approximate answer. How old is the Emperor?"

"Well, the Great Heresy was just over 11,000 years ago, in millennium thirty-one, this now being millennium forty two, and the Unification of the galaxy was prior to that. He is supposed to have been born ages ago on Terra though, so best guess is at least 22,000 years old." I thought about that answer for a moment before nodding. "Although, no one really knows how old he actually is.

The man across from me nodded his head as well. "What if I were to tell you that the Emperor is actually over 50,000 years old."

I stared at him, incredulity written all over my face. "I would say that you are full of shit, I should shoot you, and that this conversation is over." Putting action to words, I brought up my gun and aimed it squarely at his torso.

Rather than beg or plead like I expected him too, the man actually sighed at me. "I told you two things Arianna. The first being that I would provide proof, all in good time, and the second being that you cannot intimidate me. Believe me when I say that I am only here because I want to be."

I laughed at the man. "You may have wanted to be caught, but now that you are here, you aren't going anywhere." Rather than respond to that though, the man simply smiled the smile of someone who knows something. The feeling I got from that smile made me cease laughing. I knew that I did not like this man, but now I was getting the feeling that there was much more to him than meets the eye.

I cleared my throat a bit, more in an attempt to save some face in front of Xandria and Aki than anything else. Lowering my gun, I asked him. "So, how is it that you know how old the Emperor is when not even the High Lords of Terra know that much?"

"The answer is simple my dear lady, it is because I was alive when the Emperor was born, just over 52,000 years ago, to be precise."

The entire room fell silent, although that was nothing new with Xandria. I noticed that Aki was standing there with her mouth open, her eyes wide with surprise. I could tell by the feeling that I had the same expression plastered on my face. Xandria, for her part, betrayed her surprise with only a raised set of eyebrows.

The silence persisted for moments, before Aki managed to find her voice first. "H-how is that possible?"

Snapping my mouth shut with a clack of teeth, I raised the gun again. "You had better have some damn good proof to this claim, or so help me I will put a bullet in your brain. Although if your claim is true, I'm not sure if that would actually do any good."

The man smiled at me again, that same smug smile which states that he is quite clearly in control in this situation. "As I said, the proof will come all in good time. But first, there is still some story left to tell." His face lost the smile then, and adopted a more serious look. "I will continue this tale by relating just how I came about to be."

The man took a deep breath and then spoke, his voice adopting a deeper tone. "I was born just over 52,000 years ago as well. In fact, I was born about ten years before the Emperor was, to the same woman who would eventually give birth to him." He stopped then and looked me straight in the eye. "Yes, that means that the Emperor and I are in fact brothers, although I am not sure that term applies as much in this case.

"The Emperor was born with incredible intellect, physical strength, and psychic powers. I was born with all of the same. We shared many things, growing up together. It was not long after I was born that I noticed that I was different from others. I did what I could to keep it all a secret. I played dumb, like the others my age. And when I was ten years old, my brother was born, the man who would eventually rise to become the Emperor of all mankind."

He stopped again, and looked at me. "Do you follow what I am saying?" he asked. I nodded my head, not trusting my mouth to say something stupid should I open it. "Good," he said simply.

"It was not long after he was born that I knew my brother shared the same traits as me. Unlike me, however, he did nothing to hide this. In the times when we lived, anything out of the ordinary was treated with fear and suspicion. Which I suppose is quite like now though, now that I think about it." His face took on a ruminating quality to it as he spoke that last sentence. Shaking his head, he continued.

"The place where we were living, the other people decided that he was an evil spirit, and by association I was and our mother. One night, they came to our place, they rounded us up, and burned us alive. It was horrible. We were tied to large sticks, laid over a great pile of wood, and they set fire to it.

"It was also that night where we found out that my brother and I could not be killed. Yet our mother could. She burned alive on that pyre, and while I could feel the heat from the fire, I was perfectly alright, as was my brother.

Eventually the fire ate through the ropes holding us and we escaped, fleeing into the night. The two of us came to an agreement, that we would hide our powers for the betterment of ourselves. We spent a long time then, wandering around, seeking pockets of humanity wherever they were. Each time we came upon someone, we would join them, pretending to be normal humans, when in fact we are not."

He paused again. "Now, I will be the first to tell you that my brother and I are not human. What we are exactly, I do not know, but we are not human. We were born in the guise of humans, to a human woman, but we are not human."

I just nodded at him, unable to believe what I was hearing. If what this man said was true, than this changed everything. What I had sitting in front of me, in chains no less, was a person, no... a being who was a god. Every fiber of my being was telling me to not believe this person, to simply shoot him and be done with it, but another part of me was wanting for him to continue his story.

I fought down both parts of me, and decided that I would let him continue, but if he did not provide proof very soon, I would just shoot him and then dump his body out of the nearest airlock as soon as we exited the warp.

I realized then that the man must have said something to me, because he was looking at me as if he expected an answer from me. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Did you say something to me?" I asked him.

"Yes," he replied. "I asked if you were feeling okay."

There was what seemed to be actual concern in his voice, and it threw me off again. This man, my own prisoner, was concerned for me. I could not help but wonder why this was. "Yes, I'm fine. But honestly, I am having trouble believing all of this. It really just seems like nonsense to me, the mad ravings of the insane."

He nodded his head. "Yet at the same time, it seems like it could be true."

"Yes, and I do not know what to believe. I need proof from you, proof that what you claim is true."

"Very well," was all he said. Suddenly, without warning, the man stood up. Before I could even blink, he was sitting there, chained to the chair one moment, and standing the next, the chains falling down as if he had simply vanished from the chair and reappeared standing in front of it.

Before the first chain had even hit the chair, Xandria reacted. She drew her sword faster than the eye could follow and stabbed it towards the man, piercing him straight through the chest, right where his heart would be.

The man leaned backwards from the force of the blow, but surprisingly did not fall over. Instead, he casually reached out and grasped the sword by the hilt, placing his hand over Xandria's who was still gripping the weapon. Slowly, he pulled the sword backwards, pulling it out of his chest.

I watched as the sword blade grew longer, appearing out of his body until the tip was visible. He then let go of Xandria's hand, and her arm went limp, the sword point hitting the metal floor with a clatter. I looked at the blade, there was no blood on it, and there was none leaking out of the man either.

The man reached down and grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and pulled it up, exposing his chest. There, for all of us to see, was a perfectly smooth and unblemished chest, with absolutely no sign that he had been run through with a sword. He took his hand and ran it over his heart, and the hand came away clean, no blood.

I sat there, staring at him. Astonishment clear on my face, and the faces of the other two women in the cell with me. I had no idea what to think. Here, standing in front of me was a man who just a moment ago had been chained to a chair, and stabbed through the heart. Yet the chains were scattered on the floor and chair where they had fallen, along with the cuffs behind the chair. And this man had pulled a sword from his heart and not even bled, much less shown any sign of pain.

The man stood there, looking at the three of us, one by one, each in turn. "Do you believe me now?" he asked simply. There was a clatter in the room, which shook us out of our stupor. It took me a moment to realize that the clatter was my chair hitting the floor. It had been knocked over when I jumped up, something that I was not even aware that I had done. I also realized that I had my bolt pistol in my hand and aimed at the man's forehead.

Without thinking, I pulled the trigger. The sound of the pistol going off was deafening in such a small room. The man's head snapped back, and then slowly righted itself. There was a neat hole in the middle of his forehead, but no blood was leaking out. Indeed, as I watched, the hole seemed to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller until it was gone.

I dropped the bolt pistol, and took a step backwards, almost tripping over the chair. I could see Aki out of the corner of my eye, she was sliding down the wall, the shock being too much for her to continue to stand. I could feel my own knees threatening to give out on me. Not wanting to fall to the floor, I gripped the table next to me like it was a lifeline, and in some way it was.

I had seen aliens and people recover from life-threatening wounds before. I once had the misfortune of being caught up in the middle of a Dark Eldar raid, and I had watched as the lithe warriors had danced among the gunfire, shrugging off what to any man would be a lethal shot. I have also seen a powerful Chaos Sorcerer take a bolt through the torso, yet survive. Each time though, there was visual evidence of sorcery involved, from the glow the Eldar took to the eldritch lightning that crawled across the sorcerer. In this case, with this man, there was none of that. It was as if the wounds had simply never happened.

My brain stopped thinking. I could not comprehend what was in front of me. Standing before me was either the greatest Chaos sorcerer and liar of all time, or he was truly what he claimed to be, a god. Holding onto the table for dear life, I watched as the man reached down and picked my pistol off of the floor. I thought for a moment that he was going to use it on me, but instead he simply examined it for a moment before turning it around and holding it out to me, grip first.

It was with a trembling hand that I gripped the pistol and quickly set it down on the table, not trusting myself to not drop it again. The man smiled at me, before turning around and clearing the chains off of the chair. Once he had cleared them, he sat down in the chair, folding one leg over the other in his lap and clasping his hands together.

It seemed to me that the scene we were in went on forever, Aki sitting on the floor, her head in her hands, Xandria standing against the wall, a look of shock even on her face, me leaning against the table, and the man sitting in the chair, looking as calm as can be.

I thought back over everything that had happened so far with this man. I knew that his capture had not been simple luck; he had wanted to be captured. I also knew that he had specifically wanted to be captured by me. I still did not know why it was me though.

The more that I thought about it, the more I realized that this man had been hinting at something like this the whole time. His little smiles, the off-hand comments, he had been laying the groundwork for this. I supposed that it was to make the shock a little easier, but I was not sure that that was possible.

If what this man said he is was true, and I had no doubt now that it was, then here standing before me was a god. And not just any god, the relation of our own God Emperor. I wanted to bow down before him, to throw myself at his feet and beg for his mercy for shooting him. Yet at the same time, I wanted, no I needed more answers from him.

Somehow, I managed to get my body under control. Once the threat of falling over was removed, I took a moment to right my chair again and sit in it. Well, more like collapse in it, but I was off my feet. I stared at the man, sitting casually in front of me.

"I apologize for shooting you," I said in a small voice. This was new to me, I had never before apologized for shooting a person, mostly because why would you apologize to a corpse? Yet I felt the need to apologize to this man.

Man… Even now, knowing that he is far more than a simple man, I could not bring myself to think of him as anything more. I supposed that it was easier for my mind to comprehend things if I still called him a man to myself.

He shook his head. "No apology necessary, I was honestly expecting a reaction like that." Unable to comment further, I simply nodded my head. "I apologize for the rather abrupt 'proof' that I showed you, but I figured that it was about the only way that you would believe me." I nodded my head again, feeling like a puppet on strings, unable to speak and only move my body parts.

It was another moment before I found my voice again. "If you are the Emperor's brother, then why has no one heard of you until now?" I asked him.

"Because unlike my brother, I have no desire for power. It was during those times when we were moving from village to village that I noticed that my brother desired power, desired to lead people. Each place we stopped, he would talk to people, to try and lead them. However, we needed to keep moving, so he never got a chance to fully lead people.

"At some point, I do not know when, he got the idea in his head that he would guide humanity from the shadows, adopting different guises until the moment was right when he would reveal himself as he truly was, and lead humanity to its greatest potential, as the masters of the galaxy." The man stopped speaking and shook his head. "This was something that I did not agree with my brother on. It was, and still is, my opinion that humanity, and indeed all races, should set their own destinies. It is not my nor my brother's place to guide or interfere.

"The two of us argued one day about this very thing. He argued that humanity had untapped potential, and that with the right guidance, they would be the masters of everything. I argued that while that may be true, we should not interfere, and let them find that potential on their own."

The man paused again, and his eyes looked as if he was focusing on something off in the distance. "Eventually, we decided to go our separate ways. He left to create himself anew, to become a person who could guide humanity. I left and became what I have been for the last 52,000 years, an observer and historian. I travelled the lands and watched the people, chronicling everything.

"Over time, I experimented with my psychic powers. I opened portals into the warp, seeing what was on the other side for the first time. I saw the Chaos, I saw the demons. I realized that I could use this other dimension to travel vast distances quickly." The man chuckled. "I was young and stupid then. My first forays into the warp almost ended in disaster. I was lucky that none of the demons bothered to notice me, or they would have been led straight to Terra, or Earth as it was called once.

"Eventually, I got better at controlling the warp, at opening portals." He stopped again and looked at me. "Tell me, what do you know of the Eldar and their webway?"

I thought about it for a moment before responding. "Admittedly, not much. I know that they somehow managed to create shortcuts through the warp. The webway exists in the warp, but it is separate at the same time. It allows them to travel across the galaxy, through their webway nodes, quickly. What would take us weeks of warp travel, they can cross in minutes. Although if a webway node is taken by the enemy, the Eldar will sever it from the others and close it off, forever."

The man nodded his head. "That is essentially correct. What I learned how to do is similar to that. Only instead of requiring predefined pathways, I can open a portal where I am and have the exit wherever I want it to be, whether I know the actual location or not. The warp knows where I want to be, and it reacts accordingly."

I stared at him, the now familiar look of shock on my face. "So wait, let me get this straight. You are telling me that you can instantly travel anywhere in the galaxy that you want?"

"That is precisely what I am saying. At first, I needed time to open the portals, but soon I could do it almost instantly. Now, it is as easy for me as breathing is for you, and the portal will barely even appear. It is how I got out of that chair, a chair that I could have left at any time."

I thought about that, the endless possibilities running through my head. If humanity could train psykers to have that power, whole armies could be moved anywhere, instantly. There would be no travel time, no gathering people and ships to travel weeks to another planet, hoping that the units that were already there could hold out that long. The Imperium would be utterly safe, no planet would ever fall again.

Suddenly, three things occurred to me. "Wait, if you can do this, can you take others with you? And how come the Emperor never showed any sign of being able to do this? And how were you able to do that with Aki here, no one can use warp powers around her?" I spat out in rapid fire questions.

"Yes, I can take other with me, although that requires opening a larger and more visible portal, and keeping it open. Just moving myself is instant and you won't see the portal. And the Emperor never showed this because he did not know about it. I kept it secret from him, and he never bothered to explore it on his own, so caught up in leading people. As for your last question, I can still use warp powers around untouchables like her because she cannot block me out. I suppose the best way of putting it is to say that she is a single log, trying to dam a river. A single untouchable cannot block me because my psychic powers are too much."

I pondered on that. The analogy made sense. If someone or something was strong enough, then even an untouchable would not be able to stop them. There had been stories of untouchable being all but invisible to smaller purely psychic creatures such as lesser daemons, yet larger daemons, such as the princes, being able to spot them. Eventually, something grew strong enough to where it could not be blocked or stopped. Or at least it took more effort than was available to stop it. I wondered if gathering together enough untouchables would be able to block this man in front of me, but untouchables are exceedingly rare in the galaxy, so it was never something that I would get to test.

"So then if you are able to take anyone anywhere in the galaxy, then prove it, take me… no take us, all three of us somewhere."

The man smiled at me, although this time it was not a smug smile, but a friendly one. "My dear, I was planning on doing that all along." He dropped the smile after that and his face took on a more serious aspect. "But first, I must warn you. I have been many places, and seen many things along the way. My immortality as well as my psychic powers have protected me. I can take you anywhere, and I can protect you with my powers such that nothing would hurt you."

He looked at me. "However, there is one place that I am going to take you, and since you have insisted, it will be all three of you. Allow me to prepare."

As I watched, the man closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating. Suddenly, the air next to him seemed to shimmer, as if there was a heat source on the floor. I watched the wall through that ppocket move and wave, and then a small glowing line appeared in the air. It quickly widened, forming a rectangle in the air. The rectangle was pure black inside of it, surrounded by a silver glowing line. It was big enough that a single person could step through it at a time.

The whole process took no more than a few seconds, yet it seemed like an eternity to me, watching as a portal was opened in front of me. The man opened his eyes and looked at me. "There, it is open. Now go, step through the portal."

I stood up and stared at the shimmering opening in front of me. Cautiously I reached out my hand and touched the glowing line, seeing as my hand passed right through it. The sensation on my hand was hard to describe. It felt not unlike dunking your hand into water, only without it getting wet. It was not uncomfortable or painful, simply unnerving.

Gathering up my courage, I dipped first a finger, and then, when it appeared to stay on my hand, the entire hand into the blackness. The feeling was incredible. I could still feel my hand attached to my wrist, and even though I could not see it, I flexed my fingers, forming a first and releasing it. I had no idea where in the galaxy my hand was, but I knew that it was okay, and that I had not been chopped off or anything yet.

I pulled my hand back and examined it. It appeared to be the same as it had been a few seconds before, before I stuck it into a black hole that was currently sitting in my holding cell. I took my hand and shook it, flexing the fingers again a few times.

"I assure you, it is perfectly safe where the portal leads to," the man told me. He was still sitting down in the chair and watching me, waiting to see if I would blindly go into the portal.

"Where does it lead to?" I asked.

He smiled again. "My home," is all he said.

I looked again at the portal, and then I turned and looked at my two companions. Xandria was as stoic looking as ever, her face betraying nothing. Yet I could tell that she wanted to know what was on the other side of that portal. It was something in the way she looked at it. I knew that death cultists were devoted to the Emperor, so if the Emperor's own brother was sitting before us, then wherever he wanted us to go, she would go.

Aki was looking at the portal with a look of awe on her face. She noticed me looking at her and spoke up for the first time since this man had suddenly stood up in his chair, or more accurately, portaled out of his chair. "Go on Arianna, I think that we can trust him. I want to see what is on the other side of this portal."

I nodded my head at her. I turned back to look at the portal and took in a deep breath, steeling myself for what I was about to do. Turning once more to look at the man, who nodded his head once at me, I took in another deep breath, letting it out in a rush of air. I then lifted my leg and took a step forward, watching as it vanished through the blackness, only to land on something hard. I lifted my other leg and stepped fully through the portal, the holding cell aboard my ship vanishing from around me. The sight that I beheld on the other side of the portal was astonishing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

What I saw around me was truly a sight to behold. Stretching off into the distance were rows and rows of shelves. Each shelf was about ten or so feet tall, and had to have been at least a few hundred feet long. I stared at the closest shelf and saw that it was filled with books. Not data-slates, but actual books printed on paper and bound with covers.

I was about to take a step forward to examine some of the books, when something knocked into me from behind. I was pushed forward a step due to the transfer of momentum from whatever had hit me. My combat instincts took over and I quickly reached for my holster to grab my pistol, but I felt only empty air.

I realized that I must have left my pistol sitting on the table in the holding cell, and mentally kicked myself for making such a rookie mistake. My other hand automatically went for the concealed dagger that I kept at all times in my clothing. Reaching down, I grasped it and pulled it out, turning around to face the thing that had collided with me.

I saw Aki standing behind me, in front of the portal. It seems as though she had simply launched herself through the portal and had inadvertently hit me on the way. She was now standing there, frozen as she looked at the shelves, much like I had been when I first got into the room.

I managed to arrest my stab with the dagger and sheathed it, not that Aki ever seemed to notice that she nearly got stabbed. As soon as the dagger was away, I saw a hand pop out of the portal and, not wanting what happened to me to happen to Aki, I grabbed hold of her hand and tugged her over to where I was standing.

Just in time as well, since the hand was soon followed by Xandria, stepping through the portal a bit more sedately, but still quickly. Rather than do what Aki and I did and stare at the shelves in shock, she moved quickly to the side and scanned the room, as if searching for threats.

Once again I kicked myself for not doing that very same thing. I proceeded to rectify that mistake by joining the cultist in looking around the immediate area. I found that the shelves stretched off into the horizon on the opposite side of the portal as well. The whole area was lit up, but I could not see any sign of a light source anywhere. It appeared as if the light was simply there.

Together, the three of us took in the splendor of this room. The endless rows of shelves piled high with books, and down towards one end, the one 'behind' the portal we had exited from, I could see what looked like dataslates as well. I watched as Aki regained her senses and slowly moved over to the nearest shelf. There she looked at the spine of the books and read them.

I moved next to her and took a look at the books myself. They were of a large array of sizes and shapes, and a lot of them had titles that I could not read, as they were written in some other language that I did not know. I ran my finger along the row of books, tracing lettering and titles, until I found one that I could read.

The book was of average size, but thicker than most books on either side of it. The title was written in gold writing, and it was only two words. "Holy Bible," I said, reading the title aloud. I reached for the book to pull it off the shelf, but was startled when I heard chuckling from behind me.

I turned around to find the man standing behind me, regarding the book that I was in the midst of grabbing. I quickly pulled my hand back, not wanting to offend this man and his books, and backed away from the shelves. The man smiled at me, in what was perhaps a reassuring manner, but in the context it only made me apprehensive. He then reached out and grasped the book that I was looking at and pulled it off the shelf.

Carrying the book, he moved from the aisle and walked over to a table and some chairs that I had not noticed before. Either that or the man had simply conjured them somehow. The more I looked at this place, the more I felt like we were no longer in the normal realm. Yet at the same time, this place did not have the same feel to it as the warp. I was at a loss on how to describe this place, this where we were.

Having nothing else to do, I followed the man and took a seat at one of the chairs at the table, sitting across from him. I watched as he placed the book on the table and opened it up, leafing through the rather thin pages until he found something that made him smile. He looked up at me, still smiling that smile and spoke. "Interesting book that you picked out," he said.

I just stared at him for a moment. "Where is this place?" I asked him.

"I told you, this is my home." He looked at me, still smiling, before continuing. "But I can tell that you require more information than that." He folded his hands on the table, resting them on top of the still open book.

"This is my home. When I am not wandering the galaxy, I am here, with my collection." He stopped and looked around him, at the shelves, at Aki who was still over at the shelf, but had moved so she could hear what we were saying, and at Xandria, who was standing off to the side, listening in to the conversation.

"Where we are is in a pocket of warp space." At this I started. The man noticed this because he continued speaking. "Oh do not worry, we are in no danger from daemons or other warp entities."

I relaxed a bit after he said that. "What do you mean a pocket of warp space?" I asked.

"Remember our brief talk about the Eldar webway? Well again it is kind of like that. What I did was I created a small pocket of warp space, a part of the warp and yet separate from it at the same time. It is a technique that has been used before, by what you call the Dark Eldar. It is used in their city of Commorragh." He looked around for a moment. "Although between you and me, I enjoy the décor here more than Commorragh."

"So then you have actually been to Commorragh?" This question came from Aki, who was still over at the shelf.

He nodded his head. "Yes, I have. Very interesting place. I can't say much for the architecture, but just the sheer size and scale of it is amazing. The layers not only of the buildings, but of the inhabitants. I will admit that I enjoy the city a bit, just because of what it is. A society built on the pursuit of thrills, of death, and of the pursuit of immortality."

At this, Aki stopped looking at the shelf and simply stared at him. I myself was astonished as well. The only time I knew of humans going into Commorragh and living was when a Space Marine chapter mounted a raid on the city, and even then, most of them never came back. Every other time, it has been when people were captured in one of the Dark Eldar's realspace raids, to be carted back to their city and used for entertainment. Anyone who was captured like that was never seen again.

"But how did you survive there? I mean, I know that you are immortal and all, but how?" Aki asked.

"Well, the first time I went there, before the fall of the Eldar, back when the city was an Eldar haven, my reception was… less than warm. In fact, they did try and kill me. Of course when that failed, they grudgingly accepted my presence, and I was allowed to wander around, after a very extensive interrogation.

"Later, after the fall of the Eldar and the birth of Slaanesh, I returned to the city to find it changed. Once again, my arrival was not well received. This time though, all I had to do was fight in their gladiatorial arena. Once they realized that I could not be killed, I was allowed to roam the city, and I have, on many occasions."

He paused again and turned to look at Aki. "That is not to say that many times a Dark Eldar has attempted to kill me, because they have. From Sky Raiders to haemonculi, to a mandrake or two as well. Each time, since there was no success, I was either let free, or simply portaled out of there."

He turned back to look at me. "Now then, I am sure that you have many questions for me, so you may ask a few of them before we get to the real reason why I brought you here."

I nodded my head. Looking around at all of the shelves and books around me, I asked him, "What are all of these books?"

He chuckled. "I thought that would be your first question." I bristled a bit at that, at being so predictable, but let it slide in favor of getting an answer to my question. "This is my personal history collection." He waved his arms to encompass the room we were in. "This room contains the last 52,000 years of galactic history, and not just human history, although that is a large part of it, but the history of other races in the galaxy as well. From the Eldar to the Orks, Tau to Saruthi, to other races that are long dead, and races that humanity never encountered. There is even a partial history of the Necrons in here, although that is based a lot off of my own conjecture."

He let his arms drop back to the table. "These books are a mixture of things. Some are books from human history, preserved here for thousands or tens of thousands of year." He pointed to the book that was sitting on the table. "Some are books that I wrote myself, detailing my travels and what I saw." He pointed to a nearby shelf that contained identical books, each one the same size and shape. "And some still are documents of alien things, like data created by the Eldar." Again he pointed to a shelf, this one containing what looked like fragments of rock, but I recognized them to be Eldar wraithbone, and each one had writing on it.

I turned back and looked at him. I opened my mouth to speak, but before a single sound could leave my mouth, the man was speaking again. "I have spent my life travelling the galaxy and recording things, documenting them and storing them here. This is not a complete galactic history, not by a long shot, but contained in here is a lot of the long lost history of humanity. Blueprints for machines not seen since the Golden Age of Technology, machines like STC's, warships, consumables, and much more. The information in this room could easily catapult humanity to the forefront of the races in the galaxy.

"Nothing would be able to stand against the might of humanity. What are the numbers of Orks against an endless number of mechanical automatons wielded by a single man? What is Eldar and Tau technology against technology that dwarfs their own, and able to be mass produced on a scale not seen for millennia? The information contained here would be beneficial to anyone."

The man stopped talking and stared at me with a look that had me squirming in my chair, an entirely new feeling for me. I was used to making people squirm, not the other way around. I did not like it, but I also knew that it did not matter. This man sitting across from me, who came across as an almost likeable sort of figure, also had the ability to snuff out my life as easily as blinking.

After staring at me, his face softened and I was able to stop squirming. "Now then, what is your next question, you get two more," he said.

I sat there for a moment, unsure of what to ask, when Aki spoke up again. "So if you've been to Commorragh, and you have all of this galactic history, then have you ever been to the warp itself?"

The man turned to regard my friend, who seemed to shrink back under his gaze, as if she regretted speaking up. I saw the man put a smile on his face, which seemed to reassure Aki, as she straightened up and even walked forward over to the table, where she sat in an empty chair, the man's eyes following her the whole time.

"Indeed I have. I have been to the warp itself and seen what lies there, the ever changing landscape, the daemons, the wars. I have seen with my own eyes the four Chaos gods, their domains and their warriors, and the fights that go on between them. I once saw a clash between the legions of Khorne and the forces of Tzeentch, carried out on an ever-changing plateau. Each army was massive, and the fighting was intense. There really is no way to describe it with words, although my attempt at doing so is recorded in one of the books here, as is my own descriptions of the Chaos gods and their areas. I will admit that while ostentatious, the Skull Throne of Khorne is really quite the spectacle."

Aki nodded her head. "Yet, it is said that for a mere human to even gaze upon the warp can cause insanity. To gaze upon the Chaos gods themselves would cause instant insanity, just at their sheer forms. So how is it that you are not insane?"

"I going to be honest, I do not know the answer to that, not for certain. I have a theory that it has something to do with me being immortal, but again, I do not know for certain."

Aki nodded her head again, seeming to be content with that answer. The man then turned back to me. "One more question Inquisitor, at least for now. Perhaps later I will answer other questions that you may have, but for now, one more and then we move on to other things."

He then proceeded to sit there again, waiting for either myself or Aki to ask a question of him. "I have a question for you," I said. He turned to look at me. "I know that you are immortal, I have seen proof of that with my own eyes. Yet you say that you are related to the Emperor, yet he is in essence dead. Kept alive solely by the Golden Throne. If the two of you are the same, then how is it you can get stabbed through the heart and shot in the head and live, yet the Emperor gets stabbed by Horus, Emperor damn his name, and essentially die?"

I was surprised by the words coming out of my mouth. I had not even thought about this until just a moment ago, and yet it seemed like such an obvious question. The Emperor's death at the hands of Horus, and this man sustaining a similar injury and living seemed to be contradictions to what he stated of them being the same thing.

"The answer is simple. My brother wanted that to happen." I looked at him, mouth hanging open in shock. "Think about it dear Arianna, and it will make sense. The Emperor is a leader, and how do all leaders keep their lead? By making sure that they are needed.

"My brother first stepped forward in his current guise as the Emperor during the Age of Strife, where he proceeded to start to lead humanity. But he foresaw things, such as the decline of humanity, so he created things like the Primarchs, which he then scattered across the galaxy. He lead humanity on its journey to reunite itself, and then used his Primarchs and their newly created legions, the Space Marines, to wage war on the galaxy. After all, in the middle of a war, people are willing to follow whoever promises them the best hope of survival and of winning. The person who wields the biggest stick, so to speak. And with the Space Marines at his command, my brother had the biggest stick.

"So it was that the Emperor lead humanity from his throne on Terra, until the time came when Horus and half of the Space Marines turned against him. But this was also something that he foresaw, and even wanted to happen. Because again, there is nothing like strife and war to keep a leader in power. So time went on, and the Heresy continued, and people grew more and more despondent, yet hope still continued. Hope in the form of a man, a god who lead his people.

Yet still Horus continued his march across the galaxy, until he got to Terra itself, and stormed the palace of the Emperor. Humanity seemed at its darkest hour, not seen since the Age of Strife when the Emperor first appeared. Yet when all hope seemed lost, there came news. Horus was dead, struck down in a duel with the Emperor himself. But the Emperor was wounded, and having fallen onto his Golden Throne, mechanisms within the throne itself have put him in life-support, keeping him alive."

The man stopped speaking, and his face took on a ruminating look. "I will admit, my brother planned this very, very well. He was planning for and making moves against, things that would not happen for centuries, or even millennia. Everything went exactly as he had planned." The man must have seen the confused look on my face because he continued his explanation.

"Think about it, he made it so that humanity itself required him for its very continued survival. The Emperor knew that if he conquered the galaxy and all was at peace, there was nothing to hold him in power. Peacetime is the greatest bane of leaders like my brother, because that is when leadership tends to change. My brother is a warrior, he leads and rules through war. He has instigated hundreds of wars over thousands of years, all so he can rule through fear and war. By allowing his warriors to become corrupt, by leaving vast swathes of the galaxy unconquered, with Chaos and alien races out there, he insured that there would always be an enemy ranged against mankind, that they would always be in a state of war.

"And by allowing himself to be stabbed, by entering the Golden Throne in that state, which allowed the creation of the Astronomican, he insured that humanity would need him for their very survival. Mankind finds itself constantly at war, beset on all side by aliens, mutants, heretics, Chaos, and more. The only way to travel between stars quickly is through the warp, and the only safe way through the warp is by usage of the Astonomican, projected by the Emperor sitting on his Golden Throne. What he did was ensure that mankind would never be able to get rid of him, not if they wanted to survive."

Again I must have looked confused, because he explained further. "Look at it this way Arianna," he said. "If for some reason the Emperor were to die, and I am sure that there are ways to kill a being such as him, such as myself, or be taken out of the Golden Throne, the Astronomican would cease to be. Without the Astronomican, mankind would no longer be able to navigate quickly between the stars, each planet and system would become isolated from the others. In this state, all of humanity would become easy targets for the aliens, heretics, and Chaos ranged against them. Humanity would be systematically destroyed, wiped out. So without the Astronomican, mankind is doomed. Without the Emperor on his throne, mankind is doomed. My brother made it so mankind needs him for its very survival, and for that reason, he accomplished his goal of leading mankind."

The man finished speaking and simply waited. I thought about what he had said, about what he had revealed. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made to me, and the less sense I wanted it to make. This story, this revelation changed everything about the Emperor as mankind knew. Mankind saw the Emperor as a benevolent god who at first ruled them, leading them towards galactic peace, and then after a tragic loss, as an immortal ruler who provided the safe passage of humanity between the stars. If what this man said was true, and it seemed to be very true, then the Emperor was in fact a scheming thing who plotted and planned to place humanity where it was now, constantly fighting for survival against countless threats.

I could tell that there were two parts of me, each with equal power raging inside of me. One part was my belief in the God Emperor and in the Imperial Creed, while the other was my agreement, my belief, in what this man had told me. So far, this man had done nothing but tell the truth. I believed that he was what he said he was, that he was truly the brother of the Emperor. The place where we were attested to that. I had seen many libraries of nobles and public libraries, yet none of them contained this sheer amount of data that this room did. Just looking around, I could tell that the man was not lying about what these books were.

The two sides warred within me, each one producing arguments as to why they should be the one I believed. The Imperial Creed side of me was strengthened by a lifetime of belief and a lifetime of service in His name. Yet the other side was strengthened due to the sheer plausibility of the man's story, and by the underlying pull that told me that I could trust this man, that he was telling the truth.

While both sides may have been equal, I knew that even if the Imperial Creed side won out, and I did not believe this man, that my faith would be forever changed. Just the fact that there were two sides warring meant that my faith had been shaken to the core, that it had cracked under what this man had told me. Even if I maintained my belief in the Emperor, it would always have those cracks in it, I would always have doubts.

The man must have sensed what was going on inside of me, because he had been silent for long minutes. However, he spoke up, breaking the silence that rested over the table like a heavy blanket. "I know that this is hard for you to believe, but here is something that may help." He quickly turned the book that was still lying open on the table around and pushed it across the table towards me.

I reached for the book and pulled it so it was sitting in front of me. I looked down at the pages and read what was there. The page was open to a section that was describing the birth of a Lord. I had no idea what a manger was, but I got the gist of what it was saying. I looked up at the man, after pushing the book over to Aki for her to look at.

"I understand what the passage is, but what does it mean?" I asked him.

"This book is old, very old. About 42,000 years old to be precise. I have simply taken the exact words in this book and updated the language, translated it into Low Gothic. This book chronicles the first major attempt at the Emperor to rise up and lead humanity."

I stared at him, but I did not look shocked. I suppose that with all of the revelations that had happened this day, I just was not able to be surprised again. "What do you mean?"

"Some 10,000 years after he was born, my brother thought that the time was right for him to lead humanity. So in an elaborate plan, he was 'born' to a virgin mother, and raised as a human. Over time, this 'human' was acknowledged by some of humanity as the son of God. It was this God who had created the universe and everything in it, and He had now delivered unto them His son, to guide and lead them.

"This was not true though. My brother created this story, and once he thought he had enough followers who believed in God, he was 'born' as the Son of God. He spent time simply wandering with his family, teaching those he came across about God. He was seen to perform miracles, but those were psychic illusions and manipulations. He gathered to him twelve of what were called Apostles, who themselves were psykers who helped him to spread the word and gather followers, as well as perform miracles.

"He was quite successful that time, he had a very large number of followers who believed him entirely, but he also misjudged humanity at that time. As it turned out, humanity was not ready for someone like him to lead them, not yet. In time, there grew to be groups of people who were against this Son of God. Eventually, fear and prejudice lead them to capture this Son of God, or as he called himself, Jesus Christ, and they crucified him. My brother realized that he had indeed shown his hand early, and he faked his death, before escaping to keep guiding humanity from the shadows until he thought that they were ready for him to try again.

"Although he was not successful at leading from the front, the legacy he created lived on, and a religion formed around Jesus Christ and God that lasted for thousands of years." The man finished speaking and looked at each of us in turn, first Aki, then Xandria, and then his eyes came to rest on me. "I understand that this is hard for you all to accept, but just know that I am telling the truth." As he said this, he looked me dead in the eyes.

It was right then, at that very moment, that the core of my faith, the core that believed in the God Emperor and that was a devout follower of the Imperial Creed, that core, shattered. Because of what this man had been saying, that core had developed cracks, but this new information shattered it. When he had looked me directly in the eyes and told me that he was telling the truth, I knew that he was. I could see it in his eyes, I could see it written on his face, and I could see it in his very soul. For in that moment, he opened his soul to me and I could read it. And what I read there was that he was telling the truth, every word.

As my very core shattered, I slumped over in the chair, with my elbows on the table and my head falling into my hands. I could scarcely believe it, but it was true. The Benevolent God Emperor of Mankind was in fact a scheming thing who had planned and plotted for millennia to lead humanity to exactly where it was now, at constant war. My mind tried to absorb everything, but could not. An entire lifetime, my entire lifetime, was a lie.

I had spent over a century in service to the Emperor, first as a citizen, then as an Inquisitor. Yet it seemed as if things were not as they seemed. I had spent my life serving something that did not deserve to be served. My entire life meant nothing at that point, and the impact of that realization weighed heavily on me.

I felt a gentle contact on my shoulder, and looked up to see the man standing next to me, his hand on my shoulder. He looked at me with his eyes and did not say anything, just offered reassuring contact. I reached up with a hand and took a hold of his, grasping it as if it were a lifeline. He reached out with his other hand and simply patted mine in an almost fatherly manner.

I sat there like that for a while, before the man released my hand and moved back over to his chair and sat back down. All the time I just kept thinking over my life and everything that had been done in it in the name of the Emperor. I have dedicated my life to a lie, to a false things masquerading as a god. I thought about it, and there came two solutions to me.

The first was that I could reach over and grab one of Aki's las pistols and blow my own brains out, or turn myself over to the Inquisition and throw myself on their mercy as a heretic. I shook my head and quickly dismissed that line of thinking. I may be a lot of things, but a coward was not one of them. I turned myself to the other line, the one that told me I should ask this man why he had told me all of this. Surely there was a reason behind him telling me these things, behind him shattering my faith in the Emperor.

I picked my head up and looked at the man. I looked him dead in the eye and tried to project everything that I was feeling into that look. "Why?" I asked him. "Why did you tell us these things?" As I asked him these things, I tried to put all of my sorrow, all of my anger, and all of my frustration into my words. I needed this man to see just what he had done to me. He had taken the very fabric of my life and burned it, then pissed on the ashes. If I thought it would do any good, I most likely would have shot the man, or raged at him in some form.

For the first time since I had started talking to this man, he looked almost sad, his eyes seemed to shimmer as he read what was behind my words, and most likely written on my face, and in my eyes. "I told you these things because it was necessary."

"Necessary for what?" I asked him, confused.

The man took a deep breath and exhaled it as a sigh. "Necessary for what I am going to ask you to do."

He stood up again and left the table, but rather than come around it again, he walked towards an area of the room, before he simply vanished. I was surprised at first, before I realized that he must have simply portaled to another part of the room. Sure enough, a few moments later he was back, carrying a dataslate. He sat back down in his chair and tapped at the slate.

After tapping, he seemed satisfied with whatever he had done to the slate, because he tossed the slate in my direction. I caught the slate and turned it to look at the screen. Written on the screen was a single word: Extinction.

I looked up at the man. "Extinction?"

The man nodded his head. "Yes, Extinction. Such a powerful word because it carries with it the doom of an entire species. If a species is extinct, it no longer exits. If a species is facing extinction, it barely exists. It is holding on by a thread, balancing on the edge of a blade. One wrong move and the whole thing falls, and the species is relegated to history, assuming anyone or anything even remembers them. This has happened before many times to many species. For some species, the blade is very thin, where all it would take is the smallest of actions to cause the tumble. For other species, the blade is thick, and it would take an act of great power and consequence to cause a shift, or a tumble."

I continued to look at the man. "But what does extinction have to do with you telling us these things?"

"Because Mankind is on the verge of extinction." The man shook his head. "Well, to be honest, humanity has been on the verge of extinction for a very long time. It has only succeeded due to its indomitable will of the people, the sheer determination with which you cling to life. Yet now, Mankind is teetering too far towards the edge of the blade, threatening to slip off into oblivion. The blade that we stand on has grown thin. Now, more than any other time in its long history, Mankind is facing extinction. I am here, breaking a promise that I made to myself 52,000 years ago, in order to stop that. And you, dear Arianna, are going to help me."

I had thought that I was rendered immune to shock, after all that had happened over this last day, yet once again I felt that unwelcome of sensations crossing me yet again. This man, this being sitting across from me just told me that I was going to stop Mankind from becoming extinct. My first thought was what had changed to cause humanity to shift its balance on the blade. My second thought was how in the universe I was going to be able to do anything? I was one woman, albeit yes I was an Inquisitor, and could command battle-fleets, but I was still one woman. And I also got the feeling that whatever this man wanted, a battle-fleet was not it.

"How am I going to be able to help you?" I asked the man. I realized at that point that this man, who had taken my very core and broken it, was now offering me a new core, something new to live for. I reached out and grasped at it like a drowning man for something that floats. You do not care what you are grabbing for, only that it floats, that it can save you. I needed something to fill the gaping void where my faith used to be, something that I could believe in that would buoy me up and out of this faithless ocean.

"Remember when I asked you what you would do to stop the enemies of Mankind?" I nodded my head, vaguely remembering him asking me that question at the beginning of our interrogation, what seemed like forever ago. "Do you remember your answer?"

Again I nodded my head. "I responded with one word, anything," I said, still trying to figure out where this was going.

"That my dear, is exactly why I picked you. I have been watching you and others for a long time, trying to pick the best candidate. You are it. Many people would say that they would do anything to stop the enemies of Mankind, but you are the only one who actually means it." The man got up out of his chair again and walked around the table to me, where he knelt down and grasped my hands in his.

"Arianna," he started. "I am going to ask of you everything. I am going to ask that you give up everything you have, that you do things that you are not going to agree with. I will not be asking this of just you though, but of your entire crew." At that he turned to look at Aki, who was watching him avidly. "I will be asking you all to discard your faiths, to join with others." He turned his gaze towards Xandria. "To forsake vows that you have taken, loyalties that you have made." His gaze returned to me. "In return, you shall rest knowing that despite what others may think, you saved Mankind from extinction." The man let go of my hands and stood up.

"I know that this is all very sudden, but it must be done, and it must be done soon." The man finished speaking and went back to his chair, but rather than sit down, he stood behind the chair, hands grasping the back of it. "I will give you time to think about this, but before you make your decision note this: should you succeed in what I ask of you, then this," he gestured to the room, "Will become yours. That is your reward for doing what I ask of you, because I will ask everything of you, so in return, you shall have everything."

I sat in my chair and slowly looked around the room, at the multitude of books and information that was contained here. As the man had said, the information contained in this room was enough to catapult mankind to the top of the galaxy. Alone the information on how to build STC's would be enough for mankind to annihilate all of its enemies. I now realized that what this man was going to ask of us really would be everything, that he was not exaggerating or kidding. If he would go so far as to offer this entire room as collateral, then whatever it was he wanted of us, would most likely kill us.

As I was pondering on that thought, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see Xandria approaching the man. Aki and I watched as she stopped in front of the man and to our surprise, she bowed to him before unsheathing her sword. She turned the sword such that the hilt rested on one hand, and the other rested partway down the blade with the sword on its side. She then held out her arms, presenting the sword to the man. The man smiled and then bowed back to her, before taking the sword reverently out of her hands and holding it in his own, mirroring her grip on it.

Aki had her mouth open at the display, and I admit that I did as well. Both of us knew exactly what had just transpired between Xandria and the man. The death cultist had pledged herself to the cause of this man. By the actions of the man, he knew exactly what had happened as well.

"Very well Xandria, I accept your sword to my cause." The man then handed the sword back to Xandria, who sheathed it. "However, I cannot accept your loyalty to me. You must remain loyal to Arianna. Help her with this, continue to be by her side as you have for years. She will need that." Xandria looked at the man a moment before nodding her head.

At this, Aki stood up from her chair. "You have said a lot of very damming things today. You have taken my faith in the Emperor and shaken it to its very core, then broken that core entirely. By all rights I should hate you, should even try and kill you, even though that would not work." She paused a moment, taking in a deep breath. "Yet at the same time, I believe you. I believe every word that you have said. And for that, I will help you in this." This last sentence was directed not at the man, but at me, Aki turning her head to stare directly at me.

I nodded my head towards her. "I agree with what Aki said. I have dedicated my life to the service of the God Emperor of Mankind. If what you say is true, and I believe that it is, then my entire life has been a lie. So then, the only thing that I have left is to make up for that." I stared long and hard at the man standing across from me. "So yes, I will help you with this, this cessation of the extinction of Mankind."

The man smiled. "Very well then. We start immediately then. The first step is to inform the rest of your crew about what is going on. I will create a portal that will lead back into the holding cell, and from there my suggestion would be to let me accompany you to speak to them. This task is strictly volunteer only, together you and I will inform them of everything that I have told you, and from there they will make their own choices." I nodded my head at the man.

A moment later, a portal appeared next to the table, and this time, I stepped through it without hesitation. I found myself exactly where the man told me I would, back in the holding cell aboard _Rose_. I stepped aside and waited as first Aki, then Xandria, and finally the man stepped through the portal. As soon as the man was through, the portal closed, seeming to simply fold into itself until it vanished.

I opened the door to the hallway outside, after stopping to collect my pistol which was still lying on the table. Once all four of us were in the hallway, I took a deep breath and started to walk back towards the lounge. I knew that this was definitely going to be a very hard first task, convincing my crew to join in with me on this. There was a very high chance that one of them would simply execute me for heresy, but this had to happen.

Approaching the lounge, I could not hear anyone in there, but that did not mean it was not occupied. I paused just before the corner and took a few deep breaths. I then took a step and rounded the corner to the lounge, as ready as I would ever be to face the true test, my friends.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As I sat in a chair in the lounge, holding my aching head in my hands, I reflected on the fact that the entire revelation process probably could have gone better.

It started out innocently enough. I signaled for Xandria to stay back, and understanding what I was wanting, she held her arm in front of the man, preventing him from advancing. Aki and I then proceeded to walk around the corner, where we spotted Trelli lounging on one of the couches, dataslate in hand.

He looked up as we entered, and one eyebrow went up, asking us silently what had happened in the cell. Rather than answer him though, I went over to a ship control lectern that was tucked unobtrusively in the corner, and punched in my command code. After a few well placed thumps, the thing let me access the ship's controls. A quick look let me know that all the systems were operating smoothly, to the extent of my knowledge. Nothing was flashing red or blaring sirens at me, so I assumed that everything was normal.

I searched for a moment, and located the icon which would let me broadcast a message throughout the ship, over the loudspeakers. Tapping the icon, I waited a moment to be sure that the thing was cooperating, and then I spoke.

"Attention all operatives, please report to the main lounge. Again, all operatives please report to the main lounge." I logged off of the terminal and walked over to where the main sitting area of the room was, where Trelli had now sat up on the couch and put away the dataslate. As I moved, I could feel his eyes following me, the unasked question burning a hole into me.

Eschewing sitting down, I stood next to one of the chairs and resolutely avoided Trelli's eyes while waiting for the others to show up. It was not that I was trying to avoid the man, I just knew that he had a sort of power over me. If I made eye contact with him, I knew that he would ask me the question, and I would answer. For some reason, I was unable to not answer a question when he asked me, except when it came to things that he really did not need to know. I have in the past shared with him semi-classified information, things which did not relate to the mission at hand, secret Inquisition information. I have almost never shared with him the really bad things though. However, with information that he deserves to know, or will know eventually, I would tell him if he asked. I wanted to wait until everyone was gathered first.

Despite the fact that he absolutely knew why I was not looking at him, he continued to stare at me, I could feel it. I distracted myself by staring at Aki, as she sat down in the chair across from where I was standing. Fortunately, the scene did not last long, as people started arriving from the direction of the cabins, in the opposite direction of where Xandria and the man were waiting, although I had no doubt that Xandria had moved herself and the man into one of the empty rooms in that hallway, and was listening for her cue to come forth, with our guest.

The first to arrive was Hecuter. He came into the room, looked around, and simply went over and sat down on the couch across from Trelli. A few seconds later, Ailish came in and sat down next to Trelli. Mordecai and Liliy came in shortly after, he carrying his ubiquitous dataslate, she with a plate filled with sweetbuns from the galley.

Once everyone was gathered, I simply leapt into the story, with no preamble. "So, I have some rather…" I broke off here, searching for the right word to describe the information that I was about to share with my group. I finally settled for the first word that popped into my head, "Interesting information to share with you, information which concerns us all." I finished.

All around me I could see the faces of my crew, the people that I trusted with my life, that I considered my friends. They were looking at me expectantly, most likely thinking that they were going to hear something from the interrogation of the man in the holding cell. It was at this time that I was finally able to look Trelli in the eyes. Now that I had started down this road, I was committed, and I could look at him knowing that I was about to share information that could either make us all heroes, or very, very dead.

"I have spoken at length with the man that we captured. As you may know, I have done this earlier than I usually would, but circumstances dictated that I do so. This man knew ahead of time that we specifically were coming after him. I wanted to know how he knew that, whether through warpcraft or other means."

I paused once more to take a deep breath, noticing that my entire crew was looking at me expectantly. "What I found was something else entirely. I am still not sure whether it is a bad thing or a good thing, and so I share what I have found with you.

"The prisoner is… not human. In all honesty, I do not know what he is, but he is not human." At that announcement, I saw everyone shift just a bit, eyes glancing towards the hallway leading to the holding cells. A few people, Trelli and Hecuter, made an unconscious reach for their sidearms, checking to see if they were sitting in their holsters.

"What is it then?" came the voice of Mordecai. "Is it a daemon? Or is it an eldar using psy-trickery to disguise itself as a human. They have been known to do that before. There is one account where a squad led by Colonel-Commisar Ibram Gaunt found themselves with a squad of eldar who they at first thought were humans who had been stuck behind enemy lines. In fact, it is a well known fact that…"

It was at this point that I cut him off. "Mordecai, shut up." I knew that if I let him continue, he would sit there are recount every encounter that humanity has ever had with the eldar. "As I stated before, I do not know what he is. Now please, let me get through this."

Mordecai looked like he was going to object to something, but my glare and Trelli placing a hand on his shoulder stopped him, which was good. If allowed to gather steam, I was not sure if I could even stop him short of a gag and some rope. Nodding to Trelli for his help, I started to speak again.

"Aki, Xandria, and I were present at the interrogation of the prisoner, where he related to us some very distressing information."

Again I was interrupted, but this time by Ailish. "What kind of information? And is this information reliable?" She was using a mechadendrite to scratch at her cheek, which was something that she only did when she was uneasy.

Sharing a look with Aki, which I know was not missed by anyone, Aki spoke up. "The information can only be classified as very disturbing. There really is no way to describe it, you simply have to hear it for yourself. As for the second question, it is my belief, as well as Arianna's that the information is reliable."

When she finished speaking, she reached out and took the hand of Hecuter, who to his credit did not look as surprised as he most likely felt. While the crew all knew that he and Aki had a relationship going, the two of them had never been out in the open about it. Aki taking Hecuter's hand was a shock to us all. Indeed, there were stares and raised eyebrows around the room, at least those who still had eyebrows. Ailish simply stopped scratching herself, which was reaction enough from her.

Perhaps noticing the looks the rest of us were giving her, Aki met each of us with a hard stare and then cleared her throat. "Arianna, don't you have something else to say?"

Blinking, I managed to look away from the open display. "Right. So, it is my opinion that this information is too disturbing for me to make a decision with what to do with it on my own. So I want all of you to hear this information as well, and we can make a decision as a group." Taking a deep breath, I turned to the hallway towards the holding cells.

A shadow along the wall separated and Xandria came forward. I was not facing the crew so I do not know what was on their faces, but I could hear the silence. It was only looking back on it that I came to realize that the entire entrance of Xandria could have been done much better. It was not the best of ideas for Xandria to come out first, instead the man should have come out first.

So it was that when the man came around the corner, even though I was not looking at the crew, I knew that at least one of them had reacted badly. I could hear the sound of the fabric moving as someone got up off of a chair and started towards the man.

Even though I knew that the man could easily take care of himself, my own reaction forced to try an intercept the person who was moving towards him. I moved between the man and the other person, while also turning around so that I could see who had reacted.

Unfortunately, as I was turning, all I could see was a rather large set of knuckles making their way towards my face. Also unfortunately, both myself and the punch thrower were committed to our paths, and I could only look on in horror as this fist seemed to make its way in slow motion right for me.

When the fist connected with me, I could tell where it hit because there was a sharp pain in my temple and the vision in my right eye went black, cutting off my view of the fist. My head swung around and the pain meant that the thrower of the punch was quite strong, and had not been holding back at all. As my head and body were forced around, I got a good look at the man, or at least his chest, before I impacted into him.

As I had the misfortune to find out, slamming into the bulkhead of the ship most likely would have hurt less than hitting the chest of the man. I suppose that the only fortunate thing about this whole affair was that I was a woman, so I have built in cushions on my front side, which helped to negate some of the impact, although when my face hit the man nose first, it still did not make me feel any better.

I what in another time would have been comical moment, I slid down the man before a strong pair of hands managed to grab me and set me gently on the floor, where I sat there and immediately put my aching head into my hands. The pain that was coming from both my temple, where my eye had not yet regained vision, and my nose, which from the liquid I could feel on my hand was bleeding, was quite intense. I am not a weakling, not by a long shot, yet taking a punch like that, unprepared, was enough to stun me.

I could hear people reacting around me, my ears still worked just fine. There was a general commotion as people moved, and then someone was kneeling next to me, hand on my shoulder. "Arianna, are you okay?" I heard the voice of Trelli asking me.

Not wanting to risk speaking, for fear of only being able to groan, I nodded, my head in my hands still. I could feel as his hand on my shoulder gripped me hard. "Shit Arianna, I am so sorry for hitting you like that." It was then that I knew why I hurt so much. Trelli was undoubtedly the best person on my team at close-quarters combat, behind Xandria. He had the mass and the power behind his moves to put most opponents on the ground within seconds. Every time that the two of us sparred, he generally had me on the ground quickly, and I had gone through some of the best combat training that the Inquisition could offer.

I nodded my head again, and then decided that it was time for me to stand up. I needed to be a leader to these people, and sitting around after getting my ass kicked is not exactly awe-inspiring leadership. I placed my hands on the floor and tried to get up, but my equilibrium must have taken a hit, because the room started spinning and I would have fallen over if Trelli had not caught me. He must have known what I was trying to do, because he put an arm around my waist and helped me walk over towards the couches.

Along the way, I took in the scene around me with my one good eye. Everyone was off the couch and out of the chair area. Aki and Hecuter, she looking like she had held him back, were standing back a bit, Ailish beside them. Liliy had back up a bit, most likely in an effort to get away from the fracas going on. Mordecai had moved off with Liliy, but not as far away. I turned my head and saw Xandria standing in front of the man, simultaneously blocking anyone from getting to the man, and blocking the man from moving, although if he wanted to go somewhere, he was going to go.

Trelli got me to the couch and I sat down on it, shaking my head to try and restore vision to my eye, which was going from black to grey. I opened my mouth, but at first all that came out was a croak, and I cleared my throat once before trying again. "Okay everyone, settle down and come back here and sit down." When no one moved, I spoke again. "Now everyone, that's an order."

Aki and Hecuter were the first ones to move, and that was only because Aki dragged Hecuter with her back to the couch area. Liliy looked like she was too afraid to move off of the wall, and unless she made a commotion, I was perfectly content to let her stand over there. Ever the pragmatist, Mordecai had been with me long enough to know that I would have never done something this drastic without a very good reason, so he moved over to the couches after only a moment's hesitation, where he sat down, unusually quietly for him.

Trelli was already sitting with me, and Ailish seemed content to stand behind one of the chairs, almost as if putting it between herself and the man. I could really understand her reaction, and really the reaction of all of the crew, even Trelli, although my face was not quite ready to forgive him just yet. We had just been diverted from one mission and given another in order to capture this man. We had been shot at and faced death, but we had succeeded and taken this man as a prisoner. We had all assumed, based on the intel that we received from Inquisitional Headquarters, and from the fact that this man's lackeys had tried to kill us, that this man was our enemy. For them to find out that not only had I released him, but that he was standing in our precious lounge, which apart from each person's individual room was about as close to sacred space that could be found on this ship. This man was an enemy, who was now being allowed to roam the ship.

Once I was certain that everyone was settled where they were, and not going to try anything to hamper the man, I waved my arm to indicate the man. "In the course of the interrogation with this man, it is my decision that this man is no enemy of mankind. Headquarters was mistaken on that fact. Therefore, he is to be treated as any other guest on this ship, which means with respect." As I finished speaking, I took a moment to look each member of my crew in the eye, one by one, to gauge their response to that. Most of them had been with me long enough to trust me, even though this was severely pushing that trust. No one showed any sign of dissent, apparently their trust in me was strong enough for them to believe me, at least momentarily on the matter. I knew that if I, or more accurately the man, was not able to convince them utterly, than I would be having to quell a riot amongst my own crew. I had bought him the time that it would take to speak, the rest was entirely up to him.

"This man has information for us, information that you need to hear straight from the source. You will give him your attention, and you will respect him while he speaks." With that, I gave the floor to the man with a nod towards him. He nodded back, and while Xandria finally moved away, and took her customary place along the wall, the man moved forward until he was standing behind a chair, facing us. If someone had walked in to the room at that point, it might have looked like we were all schola children, gathered around a teacher who was about to start a lecture. Indeed, the air in the room felt like that, although most schola lectures do not carry an undertone of violence and riot to them.

The man spent the better part of an hour telling my crew the same story that he had told us. The entire time, I watched the members of my crew, but especially Trelli. He would never admit it, but he was a faithful man, faithful to the Emperor, but even more so he was faithful to me. I knew that if he did not believe this man, then he was most definitely going to bring it up, and I would end up having to fight my best friend, and perhaps even lose him for good.

All in all, everyone took it about as well as Aki, Xandria, and I did, which is to say that they did not take it well at all. Hecuter was mostly quiet, but I could see the subtle movement going on between him and Aki, so I knew that he was upset and she was comforting him. Liliy, at the point where the man demonstrated his portal by moving from behind the chair to sitting in it, the opposite move that he had done in the holding cell, jumped and moved quickly over to the chair where Ailish was standing behind, and moved close to Ailish for support. The tech-priest, who unlike most tech-priests I have met actually seems to understand emotions, put an arm around the frightened pilot and the two women, one more machine than human, held each other for comfort.

Mordecai was the only one that I had a problem with. Not surprisingly, it was in the realm of talking. He would interrupt the man every so often to ask some questions, some of which were good ones, and others which were pointless and extraneous. There were times when I thought that I would have to shut him up, but almost every time I was beat to the punch, sometimes literally, by someone else, usually Aki who had the misfortune of being next to him.

As the man was explaining about the Emperor, and how he had tried to guide humanity before, I could tell that this was the make or break point for everyone. They had been willing to listen to this man as he explained about his own background, and had even been willing to entertain the idea of believing him after Aki told them what had happened when Xandria had stabbed the man and I had shot him, but blaspheming against the Emperor was taking it too far for some, like Trelli. It was at this point that I suggested to the man that he bring out the book that he had showed us.

The man nodded and reached out his hand, which seemed to slide through a point in the air and vanish. He sat there, with his arm from the elbow down missing through a barely perceptible shimmer in the air for a moment before he pulled his arm back, bringing with it the book that we had left sitting on the table in his home. He opened the book to the proper page and passed it around, after warning people to be careful with it due to its age.

As my crew read the passage from the book, the man sat patiently and waited. Once everyone had read from the book, the man simply closed it and set it down on his lap. He continued his story from where he had left off.

I watched my crew and realized that I could see the point where some of them began to believe the man and what he was saying. For Hecuter, it was fairly quickly. I do not know exactly what passed between him and Aki, but at one point he looked at her, she returned his gaze, and when he looked away, his expression had changed, and I knew that he now believed what the man was saying. Perhaps he had gazed into Aki's eyes and seen the belief that she had for the man in there, or had seen something else in there, but whatever he had seen, it had convinced him. I began to rethink that relationship between the two people. I had thought that they were using each other simply as an outlet for the stress that tends to accumulate when you work for the Inquisition. Yet after that, I think that they might truly love each other, if a look can be enough to convince Hecuter that what this strange man was saying was true simply because the diminutive woman next to him believed it.

For Liliy and Ailish, the belief came slower. Liliy was not the most faithful person, but she was young and tended to think that she knew everything. To find out that what she had been taught for her entire life was a lie; that what she thought she knew was in truth not true, was a shock to her. She kept shaking her head and muttering something under her breath, I was not sure what. Yet after she read the passage in the book the man passed around, as he told his story about the first attempted rise of the Emperor over 40,000 years ago, I could tell that she began to believe. It also helped that as soon as the book was handed to Ailish, she used one of her augmetics to scan the book, and promptly declared that it was indeed ancient, and predated any known Imperial documents, at least the ones that she was familiar with. I knew that the Inquisition had in its possession some ancient documents, but most of those were fragments from pre-Heresy Imperial times, and nothing older than that. Liliy, when she began to believe the man, took her arm from around Ailish and stood on her own. That was the moment when her opinion changed.

For Ailish, she was a little different. I already knew that she was perhaps the most unusual tech-priest that I had ever met, which was saying something considering some of the tech-priests that I had met in my travels. For one, just looking at her you would almost not be able to tell that she was more machine than man. He robes hid her augmetics, and even then most of them were sub-surface, residing below the skin. She had a normal face, no metal eyes or anything, yet I also knew that she could look at something and analyze it, as she had with the book. She was in touch with emotions, being able to read them in others and display them herself. She treated non-augmented people with respect and even as friends in the case of the crew. She had really established herself as a member of the crew, one who was loved in return. Yet even after so long, it was hard to read her. I think that the moment when she started to believe came when she scanned that book, because after that she stopped using her mechadendrite to scratch at her face. That was the only clue that I got from her, her face remained unchanged, although when Liliy let go of her, she let it happen and did not try and comfort the pilot anymore, perhaps sensing that the girl had believed as she did.

With Mordecai, well the man came about as close to believing as he ever would, slowly, throughout the story. The wizened savant was a natural born skeptic, which I suppose comes with having the kind of memory that he does. I do not think that the man has every fully believed anything in his life. So over time he simply came to accept that what the man in front of him was telling him was the truth, or close to it. While he was not taking notes on his datapad, I knew that at the first chance, he would recount everything that had happened into it, while adding little notes and anecdotes to it. I had read Mordecai's datapad once, his personal one. The information on it was so jumbled and interspersed with tangent pieces that I could not make heads or tails of it. His reaction was about what I had been expecting of him, and was also the best that I could hope for. He was always the first person to point out when something did not add up, and since he was not doing so now, it must mean that he had accepted what the man was telling him.

The only one who was still having problems with the whole thing was Trelli. He was sitting next to me, and I could tell that he was apprehensive about the whole thing. He was tense, yet at the same time, he was listening to every word the man said without comment. His silence I knew meant that he was having trouble with the whole thing. He read the passage in the book, he listened as the man explained everything, yet he could not believe this man, not entirely. I knew that after the man was done speaking, I would have to speak with him privately.

When the man finished his story, he looked at me from his chair and nodded. "Arianna, I am done. You may wish to say something perhaps?"

I nodded my head in return. I stood up off of the couch, my head feeling better and my vision having returned almost fully, with the exception of some small grey spots in places. "I know that this is all hard for you to listen to, for you all to believe." Indeed, I could tell that it was. Even though everyone, with the exception of Trelli, believed the man, they were suffering from the same thing that Aki, Xandria and I had been suffering from, a shattering of faith with nothing to replace it. It was time to give them something to hold on to, something to boost morale.

"Yet not all is lost. Because of this man we have been given a chance to do something for the sake of all of humanity. He wants us to undertake a mission that, if successful, will save humanity. You heard as he explained that Mankind is on the brink of extinction, how we are so close to slipping off that edge. If this mission is carried out, then humanity will survive, will come back from that brink. If we do nothing, than Mankind is doomed." I looked at each person around me, seeing some hope finding its way back into their faces.

"I do not know what this mission is, but I believe, I know that it is important. That this mission will cement Mankind among the galaxy. I know that I am asking a lot of all of you. In fact, I am asking more of you than I ever have before. I am asking everything of you. We have all spent a long time together, we have risked our lives together, lived together, lost together, and perhaps even loved together. I trust each and everyone one of you with my life. I do this every time we go on a mission together. Now I am asking that you trust me, and that you trust in yourselves. I am asking that you join me on this mission, what could be our final mission. You do not have to decide now, take this time to think about what we have all just learned about. When the time is right, the mission will be explained to us all, and we will decide what to do about it."

As I finished, I saw that most of my crew were looking at least somewhat hopeful. Yet I knew that each of them would have to make up their own minds. The man had done what he could, I had done what I could. It was now up to each of them to decide for themselves what they were going to do. Any one of them could decide that everyone else was being fooled and could send an astropathic message to the Inquisition, who would then arrest all of us, interrogate us, and then execute us as heretics. I was literally putting my life, and the lives of my entire crew, into each others hands.

Either alone, or in pairs, my crew began to leave the lounge. Aki and Hecuter left first, they disappeared down the hallway leading to where the crew's rooms were. Liliy and Ailish left in the direction of the galley, most likely so they could sit there and talk. Mordecai seemed about to pester the man with questions but was beaten to the punch. "If you are asking about my home, the room full of information," the man said, "Then I will take you there sometime, soon. But not right now." Mordecai looked on the verge of mutiny at being kept from such an immense wealth of lost information, but he must have decided that he did not want to do anything to ruin his chances of getting to see it, so he simply shuffled off towards his room, following after Aki and Hecuter. Trelli remained sitting on the couch, and after a moment the man got up and said that he was going to the galley for some food. I told him how to get there and he left the room. Xandria stayed where she was against the wall.

I sat back down next to Trelli, not saying a word. I knew that when he was ready to speak, he would do so. We sat there for a while, I really do not know how long, in silence. Finally, he turned his head to me and spoke only three words. "Are you sure?"

I nodded my head. "I'm sure. I know that it seems like a lot, but I believe that what this man is telling us is the truth. I believe that he is not human, that he is some kind of god amongst the galaxy. I shot him, point blank in the head with my pistol, right after Xandria stabbed him through the heart with her sword. Yet he lived. He didn't even bleed. I also believe that he is telling the truth about the Emperor. I saw his home, all that knowledge. I read from that book," I indicated the book which he man had laid down in the chair after he stood up. "When he first told me about that, I wanted to kill that man, even though by then I knew that anything I did to him would have no effect. I know that it is hard, to learn that the being that Mankind has worshiped for over 10,000 years is an evil and corrupt being, yet I believe that it is true. I believe in this man. I looked into his eyes and he did not seem as if he was lying."

Trelli nodded his head. "Yet what if he is? What if this man is nothing more than a Chaos Sorcerer using his tricks on you?"

"This man is indeed the most powerful psyker short of the Emperor that I have ever met. Aki was unable to block him at all. Yet I do not believe that he is messing with my mind. Here, outside Aki's influence, I feel nothing along those lines at all. I have been messed with before, you know that, and I know what it feels like. I do not feel it though, so I have not been psyked at all." Trelli just looked at me. "Oh come on, you've been travelling with me long enough to trust me in that department."

I could see the vestiges of a smile making its way around his lips. "True, I do trust you in that area. Yet you are taking a huge risk right now. What if someone decides to inform the Inquisition about this whole thing? You know what would happen then. We would all be captured, tortured, and most likely killed."

I nodded my head. "I know. I have indeed done that very thing to other people for the Inquisition. But the crew needs to know what is going on. With something this big, I cannot simply make the decision on my own. They need to make their own informed decisions, especially since this whole thing stands a very good chance of getting us all killed, most likely."

He looked at me. "I thought that you did not know what the mission was."

"I don't. I just have a feeling that whatever it is, it will be the most dangerous thing that we have ever done."

"Even more dangerous than our one ship assault against a Chaos held planet?"

I laughed. "Well, maybe not quite at that level. But that was a special circumstance."

Trelli laughed as well, and it sounded natural rather than forced. I knew then that he had actually believed the man as well, he just wanted to make sure of things before he committed himself to this plan of action.

Together the two of us sat on the couch and laughed. As the sound trailed off and died, he looked at me, his face growing serious. "Arianna. The part of this plan that stresses me so much is not the heresy, but what seems to be the sheer danger of it. We are trusting ourselves to this man who not too long ago was having his lackeys try and kill us." He stopped then and took in a deep breath. "This whole thing, like you said, carries a large chance of us all dying, you most of all. I don't want to lose you Arianna." It was then that Trelli did just about the only thing that would surprise me. He kissed me.

He raised up his hands and put one on each side of my face, then he lowered his head and placed his lips squarely on mine. I was so shocked for a moment that I sat there frozen, unsure of what to do. Yet quickly that faded and I gave myself into that kiss. I reached my arms up and wrapped them around his head, pulling him closer into me. He responded in kind, using his superior strength to pull me into him, our bodies pressed together.

We stayed like that for an unknown amount of time. All I know is that at some point our lips separated and we pulled apart. We sat there staring at each other, speechless. He seemed quite shocked at what he had just done, as was I.

After a moment he let his hands drop from my face, and I let mine drop from around him. "I have wanted to do that for a long time," he admitted. "I love you Arianna, I have for a long time now."

I just sat there and stared at him, rendered speechless by both the kiss and his words. He seemed to take my silence in the wrong way though, because his face got a crestfallen look on it. "I understand if you don't feel the same way about me."

I shook my head. "No, I do feel the same way about you. I have never admitted it, even to myself, but I have feelings for you as well, Trelli." His face immediately perked up at that. "We need to keep this from the rest of the crew though. I can't been seen to play favoritism."

He nodded his head. "Of course."

The two of us sat there for another moment before he stood up. "Thank you for talking with me Arianna. I think that I am going to go and think for a while though." With that he turned and left in the direction of the bridge. I knew that he was heading for the observation area. He seemed to take solace in gazing out at the ever changing colors of the warp as we slid through it.

I continued to sit on the couch, looking around the room. Only then did I notice that Xandria had left at some point. I had no clue when she had left, but I was alone in the room. Reaching up a hand, I touched a finger to my lips, where just moments ago Trelli had been kissing me. The feel of his lips, the taste of him on me, still lingered.

I sat on the couch, and put my head in my hands, my head which ached with longing for the man who had just left me. I wanted to go seek him out and kiss him again, but to do so would be a mistake, one that we would both regret. I though back over the last couple of hours, and how the revelation process had gone with the crew. All in all, I thought that it could have been handled better, but for what happened, it had gone quite well. It was now up to the crew to decide their own fates. Yet even amongst all this chaos, something wonderful had come out of it. All in all, as I cradled my aching head in my hands, I thought that things could have gone better, yet I would not have changed anything from how it had turned out.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was not long before I got up off of the couch, feeling weary yet not ready to turn in and try to sleep. I figured that the best thing for me to do was get in some exercise, see if I could make myself tired enough to simply sleep for a while. All in all, I was not worried about my crew, they are all tough individuals, and they become even tougher as they join together, which meant that the chances of one of them calling the Inquisition down upon the rest of us was very slim. Doing so would result in a definite death penalty for myself, and a most likely death penalty for everyone else on this ship. And that was after they got done questioning us for information, as well as pretty much everyone we have had contact with in the last fifty years.

Seeing as to how none of them would be willing to put everyone through that, I felt that I could rest easy knowing that they would simply decide to either stay behind from whatever mission this man wanted us for, or if they objected strongly, they would terminate themselves from my employ and leave. In all honesty, I figured that at least one person on my team would choose to stay behind, and the most likely prospect was Liliy. She had only been on the crew for a few years, and had never been in a bad situation yet. There had been a few scary ones, a few shit-your-pants situations, and even one or two moments where the outcome looked grim, but she had never been in one of those moments where we are all making our peace with the Emperor because we are going to be seeing him soon, yet somehow manage to scrape by or accomplish the miracle. The perfect example of that being our one ship assault on a Chaos held planet that where we somehow managed to get our ship in there, drop off the shuttle, land on the planet, deliver the objective, return to the shuttle, rejoin our ship, and leave the system. To this day, I am still not sure how that one succeeded, and how we managed it with only one death on our side.

Liliy was hands down the best pilot that I had ever had on my team, yet she was as aware of the prospects of survival as anyone else. It was a sad but true aspect of being on my crew that the pilot is the one who is in the most danger on most missions. Rarely has a pilot joined us in the actual battle or skirmish, instead they stand by with the ship a short distance away. It has been none for the enemy to not only find the ship, but assault it, seeing as to how the ship only had a few outside defenses, focusing more on speed than firepower. I had lost more than one pilot to the enemy gaining access to the ship and killing the pilot.

Liliy knew the risks, yet each and every time we went on a mission, she went with us. She was not a coward, yet she also did not want to die. Unlike most of the rest of us, she was still young, not even being a half century old yet. Barring any unfortunate things like dying on the most dangerous mission we have ever undertaken, she had a long life ahead of her, and I knew that she wanted to live that life, not die an early death when she could just as easily sit out on one mission. The one thing that could help Liliy to see sense, and to perhaps even come on the mission, was Ailish. The pilot and the tech-priest had formed a bond with each other. As much as Ailish was capable of having a friend, Liliy filled that role. Knowing the two of them, they were even now in the mess hall, Liliy eating something sweet while the two of them talked. The fate of Liliy rested not in her own hands, but in the hands and words of her best friend, an augmented tech-priest.

As I wandered the halls of my ship, heading in a rather roundabout way towards the exercise and sparring room, I was so lost in my thoughts that I did not notice when someone was standing in front of me until I ran into their outstretched hands. Startled, I looked up and beheld the face of Decem, the captain of the ship. He quickly dropped his hands from my shoulders where I had run into them, before saluting me.

"Ma'am," he said. His arm stayed right where it was until with a sigh, I acknowledged his salute with a very brief one of my own, a salute which most likely made the man shudder on the inside at how bad it was. Yet ever the Navy boy, he said nothing and instead dropped his arm to his side before speaking. "Are we to continue our current course ma'am, or should we alter course and head somewhere else?"

It took me a moment to think about what he was saying before it occurred to me. I realized that he must have heard my announcement over the speakers about the gathering of operatives, and while he did not want to know what it was all about, he did want to know if anything about that meeting affected him and his ship.

I shook my head at the man. "No Captain. Continue course for Hollow, we are still going home." He nodded at me and turned to leave. It was just then that I had a thought. I realized that I was letting the man roam free aboard the ship, and that Decem did not know. If any of the crew came across the man, or if Decem himself, having seen the man, came across him, there would be general panic and someone could get hurt.

"Decem, wait!" I called to him. The man stopped and turned back around.

"Ma'am?" he asked.

I hesitated for just a moment before speaking, something which I am sure did not go unnoticed by the old Captain in front of me. "The prisoner that we brought aboard, do you remember him?"

He nodded his head. "Yes ma'am, tall and bald, I remember him."

"Good. He has been released from being a prisoner. He is now a guest aboard this ship and is to be treated as such. However, should he try and come onto the bridge unescorted, you are to deny him access and alert me."

If I had been expecting him to ask for an explanation or to even raise an eyebrow, I would have been disappointed. The man simply nodded his head. "I understand," was all he said. With that, he saluted me once more and turned on his heels, walking away down the hallway. I watched him until he turned a corner leading him towards the bridge. Shaking my head, I continued on my way towards the exercise room, thinking about the old Captain and his dogged belief in the infallibility of the Inquisition and all of its agents.

I reached the exercise room and opened the bulkhead door leading inside it. I stepped through the threshold and closed the door behind me, plunging the room into blackness as I had yet to activate the lights in the room. Cautiously and following the path laid out in my memory, I walked to the sparring circle, directly to the center of it, and sat down on the padded floor.

Still in darkness, I made sure that I was comfortable and perfectly balanced before I, somewhat redundantly, closed my eyes. Taking a few deep breaths, I willed my consciousness to leave my body. Immediately the world around me took on the familiar shade of color that accompanied my consciousness entering the warp. Despite the room being dark, I could see everything. I could see myself where my body was sitting on the floor. Looking around, I savored the feeling of being separated from my body.

I projected my consciousness around the room. If someone had been in the room and could see me, it would look as if I was flying through the air around the room. Once I had made a few circuits of the room, I sent my consciousness through the sealed bulkhead door and out into the ship itself. By concentrating, I could see the life signs of my crew on the ship. Each person seemed to light up, as if they had an aura surrounding them. I could see a large gathering of lights in two places on the ship, one towards the front and one at the rear of the ship. I knew that those two places were the bridge, where the bridge crew was at their stations, and the enginarium, where the engine gangs kept the ship working and flying. I flew down a corridor, heading towards the main lounge. Along the way, I passed various members of my crew hard at work, keeping the ship in smooth working order.

I reached the lounge and found it empty, yet not empty at the same time. There was no one in the room, yet I could sense traces of the people who had been there not too long ago. There was a blank spot where Aki had been sitting, yet there were traces of other people as well. It was only my long association with my crew that I could tell just by feeling which trace belonged to which person. I could feel where each person had been standing or sitting during the process when the man had spoken to us. Such was the power of the emotions that each person had been feeling that there were still traces of some of them left behind. Over time those traces would fade, but for now I could still feel them.

It was a sense of professional courtesy, and because of the friendship that I shared with each of my crew, that I did not try and read those traces. I respected their privacy to their own emotions. They knew that I would never try and read their emotions without their permission, just as I would never use this psychic form to try and spy on them. My consciousness sat down on the couch where I had been sitting not too long ago with Trelli. The emotions of our stolen moment, of our kiss, were still heavy in the air. I wanted to sit there for as long as I could, reliving the moment again and again, but I could not. I sat there for a few brief moments, enjoying the sensations in the warp.

When time had passed, I got up and directed my consciousness down a different hallway, even though such things as walls and doors were of no meaning to me, I still followed hallways to get to where I wanted to go. I entered the mess hall and found a strange group sitting at one of the tables. Ailish and Liliy were sitting next to one another, and across from them sat the man. They were talking to each other, although again out of respect and friendship I did not listen in.

Suddenly, I felt a consciousness brush across mine. I looked around to find the source, before I realized that the man was looking straight at where I was floating a few tables over. Realizing that he could see me, and that the brush against me was in fact him, I retreated away, leaving the mess hall and heading back towards the exercise room.

Along the way, I wandered down hallways, again taking a roundabout way to get back. I wandered past empty rooms, past branching hallways, past storage rooms. This was a large ship with a small crew for a ship its size, so the overall effect made it seem to be quite empty. It was easy to find a place to be alone on this ship. I made it back to the exercise room and slipped back through the bulkhead, finding my body to be exactly where I had left it.

I reentered my body, feeling sensation return to my limbs and core. The feeling of my consciousness entering my body was always one that I would never get used to. Imagine how it feels to wake up each morning after going to sleep, how it feels to regain feeling in your body after being unaware of it while sleeping. Rejoining my body was not unlike that.

I opened my eyes once settled and shook out my limbs, stretching my legs which had been curled up underneath me. Still in the dark, I stood up and made my way back to where the bulkhead door would be. I had made this trip so many times that I no longer needed to shuffle or hold a hand out in front of me. I stopped when I knew that I was only about a foot from the door. I reached out and placed my hand not on the door, but on the controls just next to the door. Closing my eyes in the dark, I hit the button which would turn on the lights.

Even through my eyelids, the light stabbed into my eyes and caused momentary pain. Yet because my eyes were closed, as soon as the pain passed, I opened my eyes and blinked a few times before everything was alright.

In the light, the room took on a new perspective than when I had seen it in the dark from the warp. The room was roughly circular, with some seating and benches along the outside of a slightly raised padded square forming the sparring area. I moved back into the sparring area and drew my dagger. I looked it over and inspected it for a moment, making sure that it had suffered no damage in the last mission, even though I had not used it. Once I was sure that it was in perfect working order, I flipped it into my hand and began to move through practice forms with it.

As I slashed and stabbed the air around me, running through forms taught to me not only by the Inquisition, but a few forms taught to me by Xandria as well, I could feel my body falling into the familiar motions. I moved my feet and blocked a strike from the left before parrying a stab from in front of me. The dagger whistled as it cut the air in twain, in the spot where an attacker would be. Slash, thrust, parry, block, each move ingrained into me not only by years of practice, but by decades of having to actually use them on enemies. Some people may laugh at me for carrying a dagger in place of a full length sword, or even a chainsword, but to me it made sense.

For someone of my size, a sword was generally a large and bulky object which hampered my style, my flow. It was difficult for me to carry around and to draw and sheathe it. It was heavy and my swings with it were slow and forced. A chainsword was even worse. Those things were huge, bulky, heavy, and quite impractical for me. I had used them before, but each time it was only with the largest of luck that I was able to wield it and kill whomsoever was trying to kill me. No, for me, a dagger was the best option. It was small and fast, which matched me perfectly. I could use this dagger to evade strikes from larger weapons like a chainsword and dart in and strike before the person even had a chance to correct their motion.

I moved about the circle, striking at and blocking invisible opponents. Eventually, I sheathed the dagger and moved on to bare hand fighting. I moved through the patterns, blocking and striking with my hands and feet. I had been taught by some of the best instructors the Inquisition had to offer, and I had plenty of experience to back up the teachings. I knew that I was good, yet there will always be someone who is better than me. Certain xenos alone, such as the graceful Eldar, would always be better than not only me, but most humans as well. In a one on one match with an Eldar who truly wanted me dead, I knew that the only chance I had was to pray to the Emperor for luck, because otherwise this xenos would be wearing my head on its armor.

As I finished up the patterns, I stopped and moved over to one of the benches along the side of the room. I grabbed a towel off of the stack that was sitting there and used it to wipe the sweat off of my forehead. It was only when I had set the towel aside that I realized that I was not alone in the room.

Leaning against the wall next to the door was the man. I had no idea how long he had been there, but when I noticed him he smiled over at me.

"Sorry if I am intruding, but I could not help but watch you."

I shook my head. "You're not intruding, this area is open to anyone. Did you need something?" I asked him. While I was speaking I walked closer to him until I was standing only a few feet away. I was ever mindful of my sweaty and most likely smelly state, having just been engaging in physical exercise for over an hour.

"Actually yes, I do need something," he spoke. "I need two things in particular. The first being knowledge of where you would like me to stay while aboard this ship, a room perhaps."

Nodding at him, I responded. "Of course. I will show you to one of the guest rooms. They are just down the hallway from the regular rooms." I moved passed him and started walking down the hallway towards the rooms, pausing only long enough to allow him to catch up with me. Together, we walked side by side down the hallway in silence, until he spoke up.

"About the second thing that I needed from you…"

Without stopping, I turned my head to regard him. "Yes, what is it?"

"It's about the immediate future, and what is going to happen over the next few weeks of time." He paused long enough for us to get a little closer to our destination before he resumed speaking. "For now, I will remain with you and your crew aboard this ship, at least until you reach your destination. I am sure that you have many questions that you want to ask me, and you may indeed ask them, except for questions pertaining to the mission. I will not answer those. All will be revealed in time, but for now, before I have had a chance to finalize things, I will not say anything."

I thought about that for a moment. "I understand. I do have questions for you, as I'm sure does my crew, but for now it has been a long day and I think that we all need some time to rest and think. Although I will warn you, Mordecai will most likely approach you soon about the treasure trove of knowledge that you told us all about. Your only hope of keeping your sanity is to humor the man."

The man smiled and laughed at that. "Thank you, I will keep that in mind." We had arrived at one of the rooms that was kept solely for guests.

I gestured with my hand toward the doorway. "Here, you can use this room for the remainder of your stay aboard this ship."

"Thank you for your hospitality," he said as he inclined his head towards me. He then stepped passed me and into the room, closing the door behind him.

I shook my head and walked a little further down the hall, stopping in front of the door leading into my room. I opened the door and stepped inside the familiar setting of my room. There was a desk along one wall, piled high with dataslates and a few tomes, as well as all of my weapon supplies and cleaning materials. There was also a bed, a very soft and comfortable bed, as well as a few chairs arranged in a semi-circle around a small table. A doorway in the far wall led into a bathroom complete with a private shower and tub.

Closing the door behind me, I decided that the first order of business was to grab a quick shower to wash off the dirt and sweat from the day. I moved into the bathroom and removed my clothing, pausing only long enough to turn on the water in the shower. Stepping under the warm spray of water, I could feel it as it ran down my body, washing off not only the dirt and grime of the last day, but a lot of the worries as well. Not all of the worries, there are some that simply will never go away, but a good number of the ones that had piled up throughout the day.

It was as if the longer that I stood there under the spray, I could feel and even see the worries tagging along with the water as it swirled around and down the drain. One moment it was my worry over Liliy, the next it was whether someone would alert the Inquisition, quickly followed by everyone's reactions to the big news of the day. One by one, the worries mixed in with the water, slid down my body, and vanished down the drain, hopefully never to return.

Eventually though, I could feel the water making me tired, so I shut it off and stepped out of the shower. I grabbed a towel and used it to clear the water off of my body before wrapping it around me and stepping back into my bedroom.

Long hours and days in the midst of a battlefield have taught me to survey each room as I walk into it, and the habit is so ingrained into me that no matter where I am, even in my own room on my ship, I still do it. So it was that when I stepped into my room, I noticed that the door back into the corridor was slightly open when I had shut it after I entered. Right after that I, my vision came across a datapad that was lying on my desk that was not there before either.

I moved over and picked up the datapad, examining the contents of it. It turned out to be the usual status updates on the running of the ship which were delivered to me at the end of each shipboard day. Due to travelling around the galaxy so much and being on so many different planets, each with its own length of night and day, we just generally kept shipboard time in equivalent with time on Hollow, where our home is. So it was that even though we had spent a day on the planet Lixion, and had dock with the ship just after nightfall planetside, according to shipboard time, it was early morning when we docked. Even now, the ship was getting ready to go into night mode, with most of the crew heading for the mess hall or bed, only a skeleton crew being active at night.

I skimmed through the datapad, finding that everything was running smoothly, and that our projected time for warp travel had been upgraded to a week and a half. It seems that warp currents were more favorable than originally estimated.

Setting the datapad back on my desk, I removed the towel and began to put on something fresh to sleep in, when the door to my room opened and in stepped Trelli.

In some other time, in some other place perhaps, the results would have been comical. His head was down as he opened the door, so when he looked up and saw me standing there, half-in and half-out of my clothing, he stopped and stared. The two of us stared at us for a moment before he dropped his eyes and I continued to dress. When you have shared a small room with four people for several days in the middle of a raging battlefield, things like privacy and personal space tend to make a running leap out the nearest window. I have been seen in far less decent ways by the members of my crew, so having him walk in on me half dressed, while still embarrassing, was not enough to cause me to have a reaction.

He on the other hand, dropped his eyes and turned around so that he was staring into a corner of my room. "Sorry for just barging in on you like that. Your door was open so I thought that you might not be in here."

I was finishing up getting dressed when I answered. "It's fine. I do maintain an open door policy amongst my crew," I said with a smile, hoping that even though he could not see it, he would hear it in my voice. "You can turn around now."

He slowly turned around, his eyes pointing towards my feet. I watched as his eyes travelled up my body, lingering nowhere, almost as if making sure that I was truly dressed in case he decided to turn back around and converse with my corner.

I made sure to be still smiling as his eyes landed on my face, and to his credit stayed there. "Did you need something?" I asked him.

"Not particularly," he responded. "I guess that I just wanted to ask you something." He paused a moment, which was almost unheard of with him. He was the most straightforward person on my crew, behind Mordecai at least. He was always willing to tell you exactly what he thought of something and he never hesitated to say anything. Whatever he wanted to ask me, it was something of great importance.

"Arianna, do you think we are making a mistake?"

I stared at him. "About what?" I asked, confusion in my voice and written on my face. "About trusting our guest, or about us, about what?"

He sighed. "I don't know, both?"

I was taken aback by his questions. This was definitely not the Trelli that I had known for decades. The Trelli I knew would just as soon gnaw off his own arm than admit to being uncertain about something. The man spoke his mind and let you know it. To hear uncertainty coming from him was like a slap in the face.

I gently placed my hand on his arm and guided him over to one of the chairs in my seating area. As I was leading him over, I smelled the heady aroma of alcohol on his breath. I have no idea what he had been drinking, but he had obviously had a lot of it. Trelli could hold his alcohol quite well, and for him to be so drunk as to be in this state, he had to have had a substantial quantity.

I sat him down in one of the chairs before sitting across from him. I moved the chair such that our knees were almost touching, which was quite a feat as when sitting down my feet do not even touch the floor.

I sat down and reached across, putting my hand on his knee before answering him. "I can only speak for myself when I answer your questions Trelli. With the first one, I do believe that we are making the right choice in trusting this man, in doing what he asks. You were not there when he took Xandria, Aki and myself into the room, the one with all the books and knowledge in it. There is no way that any one person could collect that knowledge in one lifetime, or even in ten lifetimes. I did not get a chance to actually read any of the books, but I could see them, and so much more there. If anything, I believe that this man has been around for far longer than any living person today. I also believe that he is immortal, or at least damn close to it. After all, I shot him in the head and he just smiled at me. So far I have not seen a psyker or cultist who has not seen getting shot in the head with a bolt pistol as less than deadly. A few daemons yes, but nothing human. I believe that he is telling us the truth.

"As for your second question, I honestly do not know the answer to that one." I stopped and looked at him to try and gauge his reaction to that. He finally stopped looking at my knees and brought his eyes up to mine at that, although the distance was not that far to travel. Other than looking me in the eye, he did not betray any other reaction. "Again, I can only answer for myself, but I think that we owe it to ourselves to at least take a chance on this. You and I both know the life expectancy of an agent of the Inquisition. So far, and for the most part, we have been lucky. There have been few deaths on my team. You and I in particular have been together for more years that I would like to admit as it makes me feel old, and in that time we have grown close to each other. I know that I have feelings for you. What those feelings are, I do not know. What will become of us, I do not know. What I do know, is that I would rather try this, I would rather see where these feelings lead us, than to not try at all, to suppress what I feel."

Without saying a word, Trelli nodded his head in agreement.

"Good then," I said. "We are in agreement. However, we really do have to try and keep this from the rest of the crew, as much as possible. I know that it won't last, but I want it to last as long as possible without them knowing."

I looked at him again. His eyes had fallen down during my speaking and his head had dropped down to his chest. I waited a moment for an answer from him, yet when none was forthcoming, I called to him. "Trelli, hello?" I asked, waving my hand in front of his face. The man did not respond, so I leant forward and took a look at him.

His eyes were closed and he was fast asleep in my chair.

I sighed and shook my head, wondering again at just how much he must have had to drink. I pondered for just a moment on whether he was even going to remember this conversation in the morning. I stood up and pushed my chair back into its original position. I went over to the bed and removed one of the blankets off of it, placing the blanket over Trelli as he let out a very soft snore. He had to have been quite out of it for me to be able to do that without waking him, his battlefield instincts and reactions being just as strong as mine.

Shaking my head again, I went over to my bed and pulled down the covers, climbing in between the sheets and savoring the feeling of the soft material. I may be an Inquisitor, and I may spend most of my time crawling through muck and dodging bullets, but I did enjoy my little luxuries like a nice soft bed. I always say that a girl has to have the little pleasantries to keep her going each day. There has been many a night, sitting chest deep in shit and blood and bodies on some battlefield, or else catching a quick nap somewhere on a recon mission on an enemy planet ever in fear that I will be discovered, where just the thought of getting to sleep in my bed again will make me fight all the harder so I can get back to my bed faster.

I used the datapad on the stand next to my bed to dim the lights in the room until they were almost off. I preferred a little light so that if something were to happen during the night, I could see right off the bat, and if I needed to turn the lights on, it would take almost no time for my eyes to adjust. Curling up under the sheets, I turned my head and looked at the form of Trelli, asleep in the chair. I thought about the answer that I had given him about us, and our new relationship.

I honestly did not know what was going to happen between the two of us, but I was damn sure that I was going to make an attempt at it. I wanted to see where things would take us, especially considering that we were all probably going to die soon one way or another, either on this mysterious mission, or afterwards when the Inquisition gets wind of what we did and comes to kill us as heretics.

With happy thoughts of myself and Trelli floating through my head, I fell asleep in my soft bed, feeling ready to face whatever the next day had to bring with it.


	7. Chapter 7

Authors Note: I apologize for the long time between updates. Now that things have settled down, updates should be coming a lot more frequently, weekly to every other week.

Chapter 7

The next week and a half passed quickly, with few notable incidents. The crew was much more quiet and reserved than normal, but that was to be expected considering what we had all just learned. We still talked, it was just less than what we would usually be doing.

On a more personal note, the attempt for Trelli and me to hide our relationship did not even last the morning after he fell asleep in my cabin. When I woke up that morning, it was to find a crewman of the ship was in my room, and that Trelli had somehow managed to relocate himself to my bed. He was sprawled across the foot of the bed, where my own feet did not reach, and the crewman, who held a datapad in his hand, was staring at the scene avidly.

Upon awaking to this, I immediately gave the crewman a hard stare, to which he simply chuckled, set the dataad down on my desk, and scampered out of the room. I sighed to myself and knew that the story would be all over the crew within an hour, and my friends would hear about it before breakfast. As I tried to think of ways to pass this off as nothing romantic, which it was, without hurting anyone, I started to kick Trelli to try and get him to wake up.

It took a few kicks, but he finally rolled over to avoid me and ended up rolling off the bed. There was a rather satisfying crash as he hit the floor, as well as some indignant sputtering before he reappeared, sitting up on the floor. He looked over at me before his eyes widened. "Uh, Arianna?" he asked.

"Yes?" I answered, knowing where this was going and wanting to savor it.

"Why am I in your room?"

I smiled at him sweetly. "Why because you came in here last night, drunk, and fell asleep in the chair over there." I pointed to the chair he was originally in, where the blanket from my bed was in a crumpled heap on the floor. "Yet it seems that during the night you decided that my bed was more comfortable and joined me in it."

He looked horrified at this and quickly stood up, although based on the way he moved a hand to his head, it hurt him to do so. "I'm so sorry Arianna," he said once he stopped wincing.

I just laughed. "Oh I don't mind, there's more than enough bed to share," I winked at him as I said this. The look on his face was priceless as his eyes widened and his jaw lowered a bit. "But I must admit, the crewman who dropped off the datapad report certainly liked what he saw."

At this his jaw closed and his eyes narrowed. "Wait, so someone found me like that?" I just nodded my head. "Please tell me you told him off." I shook my head. He just groaned and threw his hands up in the air. "So what about keeping this a secret? By now half the crew must know."

"At least, maybe three quarters." He narrowed his wyes at me, attempting to glare. "We both knew it was going to come out sooner or later, perhaps it's for the best to be upfront about it."

He sighed. "As always, I'm just going to follow your lead on this one and hope that it turns out for the best." With that he turned and walked out of my cabin, closing the door behind him. I knew that he was not upset; he would have told me if he was, this was his way of dealing with things. I rolled my eyes at the place where he was standing and got out of bed to go face the inevitable teasing that would come from my friends and crew.

I went into the galley for breakfast to find Hecuter, Aki, and Ailish already there. Upon seeing me, they all had big grins on their faces and a mechadendrite of Ailish's was literally quivering with excitement. I gave a small inward sigh and went to face my friends.

I avoided them for as long as it took me to get some food, but I knew that would not last forever. I took my plate and sat down across from Aki and Hecuter, next to Ailish. There was silence for a moment as they all stared at me. Finally I just set down my utensil and told them to go ahead and get it out of their system.

"It's about damn time," Hecuter said.

Aki smacked him upside the head. "Hey, be nice. We all knew this was a long time coming."

He turned to look at her, an affronted look on his face. "Hey, what was that for," he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

Aki looked at him. "That was for being insensitive."

"Yeah, but truthful."

I watched the exchange, mildly amused. "What do you mean 'this was a long time coming'?"

Aki turned back to look at me. "Oh Arianna, we have all known that you and Trelli have been dancing around each other for, well, quite a while now."

"Dancing?" Hecuter said. "There's enough sexual tension between them you need a baneblade just to get through it." He looked me in the eye, ignoring the dangerous look he was getting from Aki. "Honestly the two of you should have just gotten down and frakked…"

He was interrupted when Aki smacked him again. "Watch your language," she admonished him.

He glared at her. "Anyway, the point is, we've all known this for a while." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "In fact, I believe that you've made some members of the crew quite happy, including Mordecai." I raised an eyebrow at him quizzically. "See, some people on the crew, including all of us here at this table, Mordecai, Liliy, Decem, and others have had a betting pool going, to see when the two of you would finally hook up. I suspect that right now, Mordecai is out collecting his winnings from Xandria."

"Why would Xandria have the pot?" I asked, confused.

"That's simple, because she is the only person on board who no one would ever steal from or try to cheat."

I nodded my head. "True." There was silence again for a moment before Ailish spoke up for the first time.

"Anyway though, congratulations Arianna," she said. "May the Omnissiah bless you and Trelli with happiness."

"Thanks Ailish," I responded.

The rest of breakfast passed in a similar fashion, especially when Mordecai walked in looking happy. When asked about how much he had won, he simply said that it was enough.

Throughout the rest of the day, crew members kept stopping me to congratulate me. It was probably the single most awkward thing to happen to me on the ship. Even the man, when I passed him in the hallway at one point offered his thoughts on the subject.

The next week and a half passed, and soon enough I was in the lounge when a crewman told me that my presence was requested on the bridge. I placed aside the datapad I was reading and got up, following the crewman to the bridge, where Decem was waiting for me.

"Ma'am," he greeted me with a salute. "We are getting ready to translate from the warp."

"Thank you for alerting me Captain." He knew that I liked to be on the bridge during warp translations.

He turned back to watching his monitors and I watched the bustle of people on the bridge as they each went about their duties. Status reports were called out and pieces of paper were passed as the crew prepared to translate into realspace. This was also our chance to see just how much time had passed in the real world while we were in the warp.

Warp travel was a risky business. Time in the warp passed differently than when in realspace. Tales have been told of ships who come out after a week in the warp to find that years had passed in realtime, as well as tales of ships appearing at their destination a week before they even left. We had spent a week and a half in warp travel time, but it could have been anywhere from an hour to centuries in realtime.

Messages flashed across the monitors and Decem turned to me. "We are about to enter realspace, ma'am."

I nodded my head. The main viewscreen on the bridge showed a view of the outside, and the myriad colors of the warp. There was a shudder that ran throughout the ship and the view settled on a red color for a moment before clearing, being replaced with a view of blackness punctuated by stars.

The crew let out a collective breath. We had made it to realspace in one piece. Now it was time to see if we were in the right place, and the right time.

"Calculating position based on astronomical charts," came the call from one station. "Updating for expected stellar drift."

Silence descended on the bridge as everyone waited to hear the results. If we were in the wrong position, or if time had passed too differently for us, then we would be in trouble.

A message made itself know on the main viewscreen. There was a cheer as the crew read it. We were in the right place, we were home at Hollow. A second message told us that time was also good. We had spent a week and a half in the warp, ship's time, and only two weeks had passed in realtime.

I turned to Decem and congratulated him on a successful voyage.

He saluted to me once more, before I turned and left the bridge to gather the operatives to get ready for shore leave.

I gathered the operatives in the main lounge, including the man as well. Once everyone had gotten settled, I updated them on the news.

"The good news is that we made it to Hollow and only two weeks have passed." Everyone smiled a little at that. "Here's what's going to happen now. It will take us a couple of hours to make it to the planet. Once there, we are going to take the small yacht down to the surface and land at the compound. Once there, you are all free to enjoy yourselves, at least until we know what we are doing next." At this I looked at the man, who was standing off to one side. Some people, like Liliy, were still not comfortable being around him, so he kept himself apart so as to not bother us. I never saw him much during the journey, I suspected that he was not even on the ship most of the time. I also never saw Mordecai much, but each time I did the man looked positively ecstatic. I finally figured out why when the man told me that he was letting Mordecai look through his library, parts of it at least.

The man looked at each of us. "I expect that it will take a week for me to get things ready. After that I will need to talk to Arianna first, then she can share with you what we talked about. I will not be joining you at your home for that week." He turned his gaze towards me. "I will come and get you when everything is ready. Until then, I wish you all happy resting." With a wave then, the man was gone, vanishing out of the air.

"Alright than, we have a week to rest up before it become time to do what needs to be done," I said to break the silence after the man left. "Remember, our next mission is volunteer only. If you do not want to go, then you are more than welcome to stay at the compound."

Heads nodded all around me, but I could see the conviction in their eyes. Most of my crew had spent the last week and a half in contemplation, either alone or in groups. I knew without a doubt that I was going on the mission that the man had come up with. Looking around, I knew that I would not be going alone.

Aki and Hecuter, now that they were public about them being together, had taken to spending a lot of time in each other's company. Aki had been there when we had interrogated the man, and she had talked to Hecuter about everything that had happened, in more detail than when the man shared the story to us himself. I knew that she was going, and because she was going, so was Hecuter.

Xandria had pledged her sword to the man's cause, so she was going. Mordecai, now that he had gotten a taste of what was in the man's library, was going. Nothing could stop the wizened old savant from going. That just left Ailish, Liliy, and Trelli.

It pained me to think it, but Liliy was still the weak link in the group. I knew that she and Ailish had been talking and spending a lot of time together, but if Ailish could not convince her to go, then she would not be going of her own free will. I figured that Ailish would go if only to satisfy her curiosity.

Trelli was also an unknown factor. He believed in what the man told us, and he believed that I would never lead us astray, but he still had doubts. I did not know if I would be able to count on him when the time came for us to leave. It broke my heart to think like that, but it was the truth. Our relationship complicated things as well, he would be torn between his doubts and his loyalty to me. It would only be a matter of time to tell which one would win out. The thought of going on this mission without Trelli, my longest serving operative, and one of my best friends, was painful.

I brought myself out of my thoughts. "Okay everyone, go and get ready for shore leave." There were smiles on everyone's faces as they thought about being home for the first time in almost a year. Together, they all got up and headed towards the rooms, to pack up the things that would not stay on the ship.

I followed behind them. "Remember, everyone meet at the yacht in two hours," I called to them before going into my room.

Two hours later, I was carrying a bag that had all the things which were not staying on the ship, my guns and supplies, some clothes, and a few datapads. As an Inquisitor, I was used to packing lightly. I was not one of those Inquisitors who traveled alone, but nor was I one who had hundreds of people following him all the time. I just had my small band of people with me. As a result, I packed lightly.

I stepped into the landing bay, finding that I was the last one to arrive at the yacht. Everyone else was already there, waiting for me. I could see members of the crew rushing around, preparing smaller cargo ships that would fly down and resupply us. The benefit of having a home on an agri-world was that we always had a supply of foodstuffs available when we docked. Specifically, Hollow was a growing world over a raising world. The people here grew plants to harvest and eat, rather than raised animals to slaughter and sell the meat.

Viewed from orbit, the planet looked like a green and blue ball. Most of the landmasses were green, being taken over by large farms. The blue oceans contrasted gently with the green. It was a beautiful world, almost being marked as a paradise world when it was first discovered, but instead made into an agri-world.

Our home was a small compound outside a city on the planet, which was not saying much. The largest city on this planet, the capital, only had about ten thousand people who lived there. The city where our home was had only a thousand people, quite small by Imperial standards yet I would have it no other way.

Other Inquisitors mocked me for living so far off the beaten path. I just smiled and nodded. In truth, I loved living out here. It was quiet and peaceful, the townspeople loved having an Inquisitor living there and it also meant that if anyone wanted to visit me, they had to be willing to come this way. It weeded out those people who would only drop by "to chat," and made sure that those who did come visit me were only those who truly had business with me. Living out here also made it harder for enemies to find me. I made sure that the locals knew about my status as an Inquisitor, and they in return kept secret that I was here.

I reached the yacht and everyone stopped talking and looked to me. "Ready to go home?" I asked them. They all just nodded their heads and boarded the ramp into the yacht, Liliy dropping her bag in the lounge and heading towards the cockpit.

I dropped my bag on the floor and sat down in a chair. It would take a good hour to reach our home, so I prepared to make myself comfortable in the meantime. Unfortunately, as soon as I had settled down, Aki called out to me.

"Hey Arianna, come over here." I looked over at her. She was sitting at one end of the table, a regicide board set up in front of her.

Sighing, I got up and made my over to the other end of the table and sat down. "You know that you're going to lose, right?" I asked her. She just smiled at me and gestured for me to take the first move.

I will admit my shock at losing that first game of regicide. Either Aki had been practicing, or she was cheating somehow. After two games, we were tied; one game to one game, and the rest of the crew was watching the final game excitedly. Aki was never a good regicide player, so to find her actually beating me was new to everyone. Aki just smiled the whole time.

It was only when Liliy came into the room, just as I was capturing Aki's final piece for the win, albeit a hard win as I only had a couple pieces left myself, that I realized we had landed.

Once the game was over, there was a scramble for everyone to grab their bags and get outside. Ailish was the first one to the landing ramp, and she hit the button to lower it, allowing the fresh air outside to seep inside. Being an agri-world, there were limits to how much pollutants could be in the atmosphere at any time. The upside to that being that the air which came into the yacht from outside was the freshest smelling air anywhere. This was another reason I would never live on a hive world, fresh air and sunshine. Hollow was a world mostly unspoiled by manufactoria and pollutants.

As I walked down the ramp I felt the sunshine on my face and the warm breeze as it flowed around my body. At the bottom I could not help but stop and take a deep breath of un-filtered, un-polluted air. I savored the feelings I got from being home, as each time I left I never knew when I would be back.

I looked around at the compound, at my home. It was simple and unassuming, mostly. There was the main house, which was a large house in the style of a farmhouse, like the others around it. What made it stand out was that it was easily five times larger than most of the other houses here. It was only two stories tall, but it was long and wide. Besides the main house, there was a long building which contained a shooting range and armory, a landing pad where I was currently standing, and a small shed where a few emergency vehicles were stored, in case we needed to make a quick getaway at some point.

I followed the rest of my party into the main house. The front door was unlocked and we all walked inside, most everyone heading in the direction of their room. I walked into the large kitchen and checked the pantry, finding it fully stocked. I smiled at the efficiency of the locals. Rather than hire a permanent seneschal or housekeeper, I paid a few locals to take care of the place while I was gone. Each time I knew I would be coming home, I sent an astropathic message to an astropath who lived here in the town, telling them that I was coming home. They would then make sure the place was clean and restocked for when we arrived.

Satisfied that everything was in order in the house, I made my way upstairs to my room, where I dropped my bag and quickly changed clothing into something more comfortable for the weather. As I was done, I heard a small chime come from a speaker set into the computer terminal in the corner of my room. I check the screen, where it helpfully told me that I had several messages awaiting my reply.

I sighed and decided to leave them for later. I had just gotten home and the first thing I was going to do was relax. It was only mid-afternoon here, still enough time for me to enjoy the day.

I went back downstairs and out the back door, onto the porch there. I found that Liliy and Aki were already outside, Aki sitting in a chair and Liliy relaxing in the grass. I sat down in a chair next to Aki and turned to her. "So when did you learn to play regicide so well?" I asked her.

She looked up at me. "I've been studying using a book that I got from Mordecai," she said. When all she got from me was a puzzled look, she sighed. "Look, you know that Hecuter likes regicide, right?" I nodded my head. "Well, I wanted to show him that I could play it too, so I went to Mordecai for help, and he gave me a book about regicide."

I nodded my head again, understanding dawning on me. "So you got better at regicide so Hecuter would like you more. Did it work?"

She looked around, and seeing only Liliy sprawled out in the grass, leaned in towards me. "Let's just say that when I beat him in a game last week, the sex was worth all the studying."

I turned to her, astonished. She just smiled and nodded her head. "You should try it with Trelli. Learn something that he loves and then show him your knowledge about it, he should get impressed enough to actually get the guts to sleep with you."

I sputtered out something, even I am not sure what, before getting control over my mouth. "What?" I asked her. "I would never… He wouldn't… We haven't…" I could not complete a sentence.

Aki was laughing at this point. "You mean that it's been a week and a half and you two haven't done anything yet?" she asked me, surprise in her eyes.

I nodded my head. "We are taking it slowly," I told her. The actual truth was that neither of us had any clue over what to do now that we were actually together, and when we were alone together, things only ended up being awkward. "I mean, we have kissed a few times, but that's it."

Aki just laughed again. "Well then, you need to work on that," was all she said before Liliy got done in the grass and came over to us, effectively ending the conversation.

The rest of the afternoon passed wonderfully, with everyone enjoying being home. I sat outside with Aki and Liliy for a while, before Ailish came over and dragged Liliy inside. The tech-priest, while she loved our home, was still not used to being on a place that was so clean, being from a world where the very air was toxic to breathe, and sunlight was non-existent. When we were home, Ailish spent most of her time inside. She had a special room set up in the vehicle shed as a workshop, and she could be found there most of the time, tinkering with things.

Aki got up and went inside at one point, most likely to fix something to eat judging by the smells that soon came out of the kitchen. I was quite old fashioned in that I preferred to cook food rather than have some machine dispense it automatically. Soon enough, a bell rang out over the compound, summoning everyone to dinner.

We were like a family when we came home; we all ate dinner together every night. We sat at a large table just off the kitchen, or outside when the weather was nice, much to Ailish's chagrin sometimes. Tonight, we decided to celebrate being home by eating outside.

We sat around a table and ate and talked, laughing and chatting about what we were each going to do in the coming week. It was a happy time, but there was an undercurrent of sadness to it.

I could not help but notice that there was tension among the group. Some of the laughter seemed forced, and there were longer periods of quiet. I knew the cause. Each of us was all thinking the same thing, that this could be the last week we are all together like this. None of us knew what would happen in one week's time, and that was eating at all of us, myself included.

I took a good long look around the table at my friends. Trelli, Aki, Hecuter, Xandria, Ailish, Liliy, and Mordecai. I had known each of them for years. We were a family together. We had been through hell and back together, facing down the enemies of Mankind. We had bonded through all of that, and now those bonds were being tested in a way we never imagined. It would be a testament to our strength if we all pulled through this in one piece and not at each other's throats.

Silence descended upon the table as well all fell into internal contemplation about what was to come. I could tell by the looks on everyone's faces what they were thinking. This next week would either bond us together forever, or tear us apart. I knew that I needed to do something to help the situation, but I could not think of anything. My mind was blank as I myself was trapped thinking about what was going to happen. I needed some way to get the crew's minds off of the future. I could only think of things to distract them temporarily, not the kind of distraction that we required.

Dinner passed by and soon everyone was retiring to their rooms to sleep for the night. The sun had passed beyond the horizon, and the first of Hollow's two moons was rising. My room had a large window in it, overlooking the fields outside the compound. I sat in a chair, looking out the window at the landscape. I was thinking about my friends, and what to do about the tension, when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I said, not looking away from the window. I heard the door open and footsteps walk across the room towards me. It was not until the person got closer that I could make out their reflection in the window. "Is something the matter," I asked.

"No," came the response. The person took a seat in the chair across from mine. Both chairs were angled such that they each looked out the window. I could see the person looking out the window as well.

"It's a beautiful night," I said.

The person nodded their head. "It is."

There was silence for a minute before I sighed and turned my head, looking at Trelli sitting across from me. "Your room also has a window, so I know you did not come here just to take in the view."

He shifted in the chair before looking at me. "I assume that you noticed what was going on at dinner." I nodded my head. "Something needs to happen Arianna."

"I know Trelli. I've been sitting here, trying to think of some way to keep this tension from destroying us. It's hard, because we each believe in what the man says, but we can't just give up on decades of faithfully serving the Emperor.

"It is harder for me because I am an Inquisitor, the hand of the Emperor, His will made manifest. I have dedicated my life to serving Him. To suddenly find out that it's all a lie, that the person I have served this whole time is a lying and corrupt leader, it has shaken me to my core. We could all ignore it on the ship when we were together because the ship is large, and we could all go off alone and think. Now that we are home, and there is much less room, it is all coming more towards the surface."

Trelli just looked at me throughout my speech. "I know how hard this has been on you. I've been with you for far longer than I would care to admit, as it makes me feel old. I've been with you through thick and thin. In that time I have seen you struggle with many tasks, but each one you have approached faithfully. Now that your faith is shaken, you don't know what to turn to. We are each having that problem." I nodded my head. "Perhaps is we knew what our coming mission was, we could grasp onto that. But since none of us know, we really don't have anything to grasp onto, besides each other.

"Yet even that is hard, since this mission is volunteer only. You don't know if the person next to you will be by your side when the time comes. Everyone is thinking that they are on their own, and it is tearing us apart."

I nodded my head. "I know. This is easily the hardest thing that we have ever been asked to do. Our faith is shaken, not just in the Emperor, but in each other as well."

Trelli leaned across to me and grabbed my hand in his own. "We need to do something Arianna, something to cement everyone together."

I placed my other hand on top of his. "I have been trying to think of a way to do just that. Yet I keep coming up blank. The only thing I can think of that would work would be some sort of mission to send everyone on. Yet I can't simply devise a training exercise here, as that would be too temporary, and it lacks the threat needed to get everyone to rely on each other like they need to."

We lapsed into silence, hands still clasped together. It was not an uncomfortable silence like the other times we had been together. Instead, it was a silence born of mutual thinking towards the same problem. We sat there, holding hands and staring at each other for a while.

We both zoned back into reality when the terminal in my corner chimed yet again. I sighed and let go of his hand, which he pulled back over to himself. Standing up, I went over to the corner and checked the console, seeing that it had logged another message for me. I acknowledged that I had received the message so the thing would not chime again, but did not look at it. I resolved to check all messages tomorrow and answer them.

I looked over at Trelli, still sitting in my chair, watching me. I went over and stood by him. "I don't think an answer to this problem is going to be forthcoming tonight. I think we both need to sleep on it and talk again in the morning."

He nodded his head, although he looked crestfallen at having to leave. He stood up and faced me. "Well then, goodnight Arianna," he said. He bent over and kissed my cheek before heading towards the door.

As I watched him walk away from me, the craziest idea came into my head. I thought back to when Aki and I had talked on the porch earlier in the day. I remembered what she told me about taking the initiative.

"Trelli," I called to him. He stopped where he was, opening the door to leave and turned back to face me. "Why don't you… stay here tonight, with me," I said cautiously.

He smiled at me and turned away, closing the door. He made his way back over to me and put his large arms around me. "I thought you would never ask," he said before bending over to claim my lips with his.

We kissed and moved our way over towards the bed. As he picked me up and threw me in bed, I could not help but think that I should listen to Aki more often. The problem of what to do about the crew could definitely wait until tomorrow, for now though, there were more important things to think about.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next morning dawned bright and early, bringing with it a day that I do not think I will ever forget. It started off simple enough. I awoke feeling tired rather than refreshed, which was to be expected after staying up late last night. But as it was, I would not trade what happened last night for anything.

I will not go into details on what all happened, but suffice to say that it was an amazing night, filled with passion and pleasure.

Since I was so tired, I would have continued sleeping, if not for something bothering me. It would appear that my partner in bed had decided that he was cold, and had deftly stolen every last blanket on my bed, wrapping them around himself like a cocoon. I shot his sleeping figure a glare as I shivered a bit, before grabbing the blankets and attempting to tug them back over.

Unfortunately he had an iron grip on them and all I succeeded in doing was straining myself. I debated whether I wanted to kick him off the bed again, but I decided against it. He deserved to sleep some after last night. Instead I took the opportunity to quietly slip out of bed and head into the bathroom.

After a quick shower, I got dressed and left to go find some breakfast. I entered the kitchen to find Aki already up and at the stove. Based on the smell, she seemed to be cooking strips of grox meat. I paused for a moment, inhaling the sweet smell of cooking meat, and savoring it. While I refused to think about it too hard, I knew that this could possibly be my last week to be able to enjoy things like this. I was damn sure going to take advantage of any opportunity to enjoy the little things.

Aki finally noticed my entrance when I pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. She turned to me with a knowing grin on her face. "So," she said, "It seems like you had an… enjoyable night last night."

I just rolled my eyes at her. "Now what makes you think that?" I asked, giving her a smile.

"Oh, maybe just the noises I heard coming out of your room. Has anyone ever told you that you're a very loud person in bed?" I could feel my face going red as she spoke, which only made her grin get bigger. "I mean honestly, I would not be surprised if the whole house knew of your little union."

Feeling my face get even more red, I simply sat there and took the punishment that Aki was delivering. It was better to do it now than to wait and have her ambush me when there were other people around. I could tell that she was enjoying this, possibly more than she should be. She had a huge grin on her face as she alternated between teasing me and cooking the meat.

After only a few minutes, but what seemed like forever to me, the meat was done and she got out two plates, serving the meat equally. She sat across from me at the table and together we ate, although I tried to steer the conversation towards other things, like how she and Hecuter were doing.

This being our first morning back home, most people were choosing to sleep in rather than get up, so Aki and I were alone in the room when the com set in the corner of the living room started beeping. Sharing a look with Aki, I got up and went over to the unit.

The unit was a standard one, with a fairly decent range, able to reach up into the atmosphere, to town, or even up to my ship in orbit. It was mainly used to contact _The Rose_ when needed, or for emergencies. Since there was no reason that I could think of for Decem to be contacting us, I was curious as to who wanted to reach us.

I reached the unit and flipped it on, listening to the voice that came out of the speakers. "This is Inquisitor Quintessa trying to reach Inquisitor Arianna, come in Inquisitor."

I paused for a moment, recognizing the voice. Inquisitor Quintessa was a friend of mine, at least as much as a fellow Inquisitor could be considered a friend. Trust between Inquisitors was something of a rarity. Yes we worked together in the same organization, but such was the nature of our work that we generally only trusted each other as far as we could throw them, which for someone of my size was not very far at all.

The life of an Inquisitor was one in which you suspected everyone around you of some hidden heresy, it made things easier. There were some Inquisitors who even suspected their own hirelings of heresy, a practice that I did not subscribe to. Inquisitors worked together sometimes on operations of a large scale, but even then the trust between them was strained at best. Each one suspecting the other of secretly helping the enemy in some way. While it was rare that Inquisitors do fall, it has happened before to disastrous consequences.

Inquisitor Quintessa was as much a friend to me as was possible. I knew her to be a hard-lined yet fair person. She believed deeply in the Imperial Creed and sometimes took a harsh stance on situations, perhaps a little quick to declare Exterminatus, but each time she acted in the best interests of the Imperium. An appeal could be made to her rational side on behalf of something, but she was still more hard-lined that I would like. We had worked together a few times and found solace in the fact that we were both women in a largely male organization. I would love to be able to say that women were treated equally among the Inquisition, but that was simply not true. Men will always be men, and their perceived status over women still rang true even in the upper echelons of the Imperium.

I was brought out of my thoughts when the radio squawked back to life. "This is Inquisitor Quintessa, trying to reach Inquisitor Arianna, are you there Arianna?"

I noticed Aki coming closer as I picked up the handset and held it in front of me. Pushing the talk button, I responded. "This is Arianna."

There was a moment of silence as the signal made its way to wherever Quintessa was, which based on the range of the unit had to be in orbit or atmosphere. "Arianna, good you're there. I was hoping you would be up."

"I'm up. What brings you all the way out here Quintessa?" I asked her.

"Headquarters received your report about capturing the cult leader, I am here to take him into custody and transfer him to Segmentum Command for interrogation."

My blood went cold at her statement. I quickly thought back to right after the mission and getting back to _The Rose_. I could not remember sending out a report to Command. Frantically, I tried to think about when such a report could have been sent out. It had to have been before we entered the warp, as astropathic messages could not be sent or received in the warp.

I was stuck when something hit me. I remembered the first night on the ship, when the nightly report datapad was on my desk. I had briefly scanned it, not really interested in the details. I could recall a small addendum on there, stating that a message had been sent out regarding the completion of the mission. I had not paid it much attention at the time. It was then that I realized the truth.

Decem, ever the loyal and efficient man that he was, must have simply sent the message automatically before we left. Once we were in the warp and I had released the man, it was too late to send another message. Command must have received the message and dispatched Quintessa to claim custody of the prisoner.

I turned to Aki next to me, sure that the look of horror on her face was matched by mine. "Shit," was all I said.

She just nodded. "Shit indeed, what are we going to do?"

"I'll think of something." I raised the handset up again. "Alright Quintessa, why don't you come on out to the compound and land. I will meet you out there. What's your ETA?"

The moment's silence was deafening, and the longest moment of my life. Even longer than when I had been staring a daemon straight in its ugly face as the thing tried to eat my soul. That time though, Trelli had come in and blasted the thing with a grenade, distracting it long enough for me to get out of its grasp. Unfortunately, I think that simply tossing a live grenade at Quintessa would cause more problem than it would solve.

"I will be there in about half an hour," Quintessa responded.

"Good, I will prepare things and see you then, Arianna out." I reached out and shut off the comm-set. "Frak!" I cursed aloud.

This was bad. There was no good way to spin that I had simply let the prisoner go. If the man had been a cult leader that I let go, Quintessa would, rightly so, call into question my judgment and have me and my crew arrested and shipped off for interrogation. Or she would simply declare me heretic and execute me and my crew. Either situation was a definite no win for me. I had to protect my crew and myself.

I turned to face Aki. "Wake everyone up and gather them in here in three minutes." She nodded and turned, running off up the stairs.

Moving over to a chair, I placed a hand on the back of it to steady myself. This was a situation that I was not prepared for. I had assumed that no message had been sent out about the prisoner, and that by the time Segmentum Command wised up to the fact that I had not reported in, I would be long gone on whatever mission the man had planned.

I racked my brain trying to come up with an idea on how to deceive Quintessa, or otherwise get her to leave without killing her or having her take me and my crew captive. As I was thinking, I could hear a clatter coming from upstairs as people were roused and came down. Some people, like Mordecai and Hecuter looked like they had already been awake, while Liliy and Ailish looked as if they had been woken up.

It took almost the entire three minutes, but finally Aki came back downstairs dragging Trelli behind her. He looked like he had simply thrown on the nearest pair of pants in the room and been dragged down. At any other time, the image would have made me chuckle. Now, as I looked at him and his broad chest and arms, covered in tattoos, I was simply glad that I had spent the last night with him, as it could be the last night we would have together.

Once everyone was gathered, throwing me questioning looks, I spoke. "We have a problem. It would seem that before we left Lixion, an astropathic message was sent to headquarters detailing the success of the mission and the capture of the cult leader. You and I know that the cult leader is not that, but that is beside the point. The point is that another Inquisitor, Quintessa, is here to take custody of the man. She will be landing outside in half an hour." I could see around me that comprehension was dawning on the faces of my crew. "We have that long to think of some way to get Quintessa to leave, for if she finds out that we no longer have the man with us, she will take us captive, interrogate us, and possibly execute us."

There was silence for a moment as my words sank in. Some of the crew shared looks of horror, while Xandria showed no reaction, as normal. "I will now entertain any ideas that you may have on how to proceed," I said.

After a moment, Trelli spoke up. "Why don't we tell her the truth?"

"Because she would never believe us, and would probably simply kill us."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Then we should kill her. By the time headquarters finds out, we will be long gone from here."

"I would really love to avoid that at all costs," I said. "She has done nothing wrong and is a good Inquisitor. Killing her would only brand us heretics and traitors. If we can trick her, than we will be far better off in the long run."

I could see the others nodding their heads around me. "We need to think of some way to trick her into believing that the prisoner is not with us, for a legitimate reason. It needs to have been something recently too, as if we say that the man escaped some time ago, then she will question as to why we are not out there tracking him down."

The room lapsed into silence, and I could tell that everyone was thinking hard. If there was one thing that we could all agree on, it was that we wanted to live. If Quintessa got even a whiff of the truth, then we would all be headed towards a very unpleasant future.

Over the next few minutes, ideas were proposed and subsequently shot down as unfeasible, too complicated, or simply unable to be put together in the short amount of time we had. So it was that with fifteen minutes to go until Quintessa landed, everyone tuned in when Trelli stated that he had an idea.

"If it involves the liberal application of grenades and explosives, then no," I said, tired of all the ideas so far and dreading what was to come.

He got a smile on his face. "It does involve that, but not what you're thinking." As he started to explain his plan, I could feel a smile creeping onto my face as well. I looked around at the others who were listening and could tell that, while crazy, this plan could be just what we needed to trick Quintessa. It was risky, and carried a high degree of failure, but if it worked, it would get Quintessa off our backs for at least a few weeks, which was all the time we needed.

We spent a few minutes going over it, making sure we each knew what we were supposed to do. Finally, with ten minutes to go until Quintessa arrived, we all broke up and went to prepare. We had a lot to do and very little time to get it done in.

So it was that ten minutes later, I was standing next to Trelli by the secondary landing pad, across the compound from the primary one where our yacht was sitting. It was thankful that the house blocked the pad from view, as if Quintessa could see the pad from where she would have landed, the plan would never have worked.

I listened and could hear the sounds of an engine approaching. Soon enough, her shuttle came into view. It was a large and bulky craft, not unlike the landers used by the Imperial Guard. The ship made one pass around the compound before it came in to settle on its landing gear in front of us.

There was a moment as the sounds of the ship's engines winded down before the landing ramp at the rear of the ship came down. At the top of the ramp, striding down towards us with long purposeful strides were three figures. One was a tall woman with shoulder length red hair, she had a pistol strapped on one hip and a sword on the other. Next to her was a young man with close cropped sandy brown hair carrying a las rifle slung over one shoulder. Behind those two was a large mountain of a man, covered in scars and tattoos, the two intermingling to form a unique work of art. The man was armed to the teeth with a bolter and las rifle, grenades strapped to his chest and an armsman's shotgun slung on his back.

The three of them reached the bottom of the ramp and walked over to us. "Inquisitor Arianna," greeted the woman.

"Inquisitor Quintessa," I responded, holding out my hand for her to shake. She gripped my hand in hers and we briefly shook, before dropping the contact. "You remember my associate, Umberto Trelli." I gestured to him and he nodded his head at her, but did not offer a hand.

"Yes, I remember him." She pointed to the man next to her. "This is Interrogator Hawke, my pupil and apprentice." She then gestured vaguely behind her without turning around. "And this is Wylf." I then had the distinct pleasure of watching Trelli actually have to look up at someone, as Wylf towered over even him. For his part, Wylf just grunted.

Now that the greetings were over, it was time to put our plan into action. "So you are here to take custody of the prisoner?" I asked Quintessa.

She nodded. "Yes. Command is interested to hear how he grew a cult so quickly on Lixion, and whether he is responsible for the uprisings recently on Bassault."

"We have been keeping him in the holding cells here in the basement. When we heard you were coming, we began prepping him for transfer." I started to turn and head towards the house. "I interrogated him a but on the way out here, but he had nothing to say. I did not want to go too far without approval, so I've been simply holding him."

"Good, would not want to cause undue harm before we can get answers out of him."

I nodded. "My crew should be bringing him out in a moment. Before you go though, would you like to…" I was interrupted by an explosion going off on the other side of the house. The ground shook, causing us to stumble a bit. I looked up and saw smoke rising up from where the kitchen was.

"No," I said and took off sprinting towards the door and into the house. I could tell that the others were following me based on the footsteps on the grass. I reached the door into the house and threw it open, seeing smoke coming out. I was short enough that I did not have to duck much to avoid the noxious black smoke. I ran inside the house and came to a stop in the kitchen, or what remained of it. The back wall had been blown out, and there was debris everywhere. I surveyed the chaos for a moment before I spotted a body amongst the ruins of the table.

I ran up to the figure and gestured for Trelli to pick it up. He knelt down and carefully picked up Hecuter. He carried him over to the rest of us. The man looked to be alright. He had a gash on his forehead that was leaking blood, and seemed stunned, but a quick slap to the face solved that. He sputtered and moaned a bit before his eyes focused on me.

"Arianna, I'm sorry."

"What happened," I asked him.

"We were moving the prisoner, Xandria and I. He must have been a psyker, because as soon as we had him upstairs, he conjured a fireball and hurled it at me. I dodged and it exploded behind me. I don't know what happened next."

I nodded to Trelli. "Take him outside. Quintessa," I turned to face her. "It seems that our prisoner was a hidden psyker. Come, let's find him and show him the Emperor's justice." I pulled out the bolt pistol at my side.

She nodded to me. "Very well, although try and take him alive if possible."

"He dares to attack me in my own home, to injure my people, no promises." There was a fire in my eyes as I strode over to the hole in the wall and walked through it. Quintessa and her two men followed me, although Wylf had to stoop and turn sideways to make it through the hole.

Outside, it was chaos. There was debris and pieces of wall everywhere. I quickly looked around and found Xandria, pressed up against a wall. I moved over to her and looked around the wall. I could see something that I did not want to see at all. There were two figures moving towards our yacht. One was clearly struggling against the other, taller figure.

I recognized the struggling one to be Aki, although I could not make out who the other one was, as it was wearing a cloak and hood. The person was waving around one of Aki's pistols.

I pulled my head back as a flurry of lasbolts hit the side of the house. "It seems that he took Aki captive and his heading for the yacht," I reported. Xandria nodded her head to confirm this.

Quintessa looked at me. "You're a psyker, just incapacitate him."

I shook my head. "It won't work. Aki is a blank, psychic powers don't work around her. He cannot use his powers, but mine won't work either."

I thought for a moment. "Dammit, he cannot make it to the yacht. If he can pilot then he will at least be able to break atmosphere." I turned to Quintessa. "Take your men and return to your lander, try and get it above our yacht, see if he won't take off. If he does try to, then…" I paused a second. "Blow it out of the sky. I'm going to see if I can stop him from taking Aki onto that ship."

She nodded her head. "Wylf and I will go back. I will leave Hawke here with you." With that she gestured and the mountain man followed her back through the hole in my house. I secretly smiled inside. So far the plan was working. I knew that Quintessa preferred to pilot things herself, not trusting anyone else to do it. I just needed to get her away from here for a moment.

I peeked around the house and quickly ducked back as more las bolts hit the wood, causing it to smolder. "Alright, here's what we are going to do. Hawke, how accurate are you with your rifle?"

He looked me straight in the eye. "Very, I have marksman level skills."

"Good, my sniper is down. I want you to run for that shed over there," I pointed to the vehicle shed. "Once behind cover, I want you to discourage the prisoner from getting to the yacht. Don't hit him, and for Emperor's sake don't hit my crewmember, simply discourage him from going in that direction. Xandria and I will cover you. Trelli will be back soon and I will send him around behind the prisoner to try and get him."

With that I stuck my gun around the corner and started firing. All of my bolts went wide, but the figure holding Aki stopped firing and ducked behind his shield, giving Hawke the time to run across the open area to the shed. I could see him drop into the grass and start firing at the area between the figure and the yacht.

The figure seemed to panic, as he stumbled and nearly dropped Aki, who took this opportunity to wiggle around in its grasp and break its hold on her. She started running away, but the figure leveled its pistol and fired, the bolt hitting Aki in the back and sending her tumbling forward, where she lay still in the grass.

"No!" I shouted. I moved around the corner and started wildly firing my bolt pistol at the figure, who turned and ran towards the yacht, having lost its shield. I could see Hawke aiming and firing his rifle at the figure, bolt rounds and las bolts going all around it. I could definitely see it take at least one las round in the leg and another in the side, but neither seemed to have an effect.

The figure hit the ramp and ran up it, as soon as it vanished inside I ran forwards, Xandria right beside me, Hawke just behind us. The ramp began to close, and before we could make it there, we were shut out of the yacht.

I raged and slammed my pistol against the button on the outside of the ship, but the door refused to open. Grunting in frustration, I could only listen as the engines started up and the yacht rose off the ground.

Suddenly, a heavy machine gun started up, stitching a line of holes in the side of the yacht. I looked over to see Trelli holding a rotator cannon, firing at the yacht. The look of anger in his eyes was blazing. He moved the cannon, tracing bullet holes across the entire yacht, causing the three of us just below it to drop down.

If the cannon was having any effect, we could not tell as the yacht rose higher and higher, taking to the skies. I could hear over the roar of the engines and the cannon another sound, another engine.

Quintessa's lander appeared around the side of the house, and opened fire with a large gun slung underneath the nose. Those bullets had more of an effect, causing the yacht to move sideways with the impact. The yacht compensated by going into evasive maneuvers, as it climbed higher still in the sky. The bursts from the lander's gun were not hitting the yacht now as the smaller and sleeker craft moved around and gained speed.

Soon, the lander was left behind, it's gun unable to shoot anymore. The lander came back down and settled on the ground.

The ramp opened and Quintessa came back down. "I called my ship in orbit, told them to blast the yacht down as soon as it breached orbit."

I nodded to her. "Good, then let's go inside and to the comm-set." I lead the way over towards the house, where I could see Trelli tending to Aki, who was still alive. She had been wearing armor under her shirt, and so the shot had taken the wind out of her, but had not penetrated her armor, so she was bruised but alive.

Inside, Hecuter and Liliy were putting out the last of the fire. I went over to the radio and quickly tuned it to the proper frequency. "Arianna calling _Rose_, come in _Rose_."

There was a moment before a voice answered. "This is _Rose_, what do you need Inquisitor."

I paused for a brief moment. "Tell Decem that our yacht is coming up, and that it has been compromised. As soon as it breaks orbit, destroy it."

"Affirmative Arianna, message received and relayed. _Rose _out."

I set the handset down. "Now it is just a matter of waiting. The gun crews aboard my ship are good, they won't miss."

Quintessa nodded. Together, we stood there by the radio, waiting. As a gesture of good faith, she had Hawke and Wylf help Hecuter and Liliy start cleaning up the debris. It was a harrowing time, I was afraid that Hawke or Wylf would find evidence of the explosives planted, or that someone would comment on the fact that something just did not add up.

It was only a short while later that the radio crackled to life again. "_Rose_ to Arianna."

I picked up the handset. "Go for Arianna."

"_Rose_ reports mission success, the yacht has been destroyed. No sign of escape pod jettison."

"Roger that _Rose_, good job."

I put the handset away. "It would seem that there is no longer a prisoner to transfer."

Quintessa looked at me, a grim look on her face. "It would seem so. I will have my ship scan the debris, see if we can confirm that the prisoner is indeed dead." She looked around, at the ruins of my kitchen, at Hecuter whose wound was still bleeding a bit, and at Aki who had been moved onto a couch in the sitting room, sitting there and holding her back. "How could this happen?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. He surrendered to us back on Lixion, and has been compliant the whole time. When he first came into our custody, I could sense no psyker taint in him, but have taken precautions against that anyway. My guess is that once he was free of the cells and upstairs, he seized the opportunity to try and escape."

I paused a moment. "I will conduct a full investigation of what happened, talk to my crew, and file a report with headquarters. There is no need for you to be involved in this, I will take all the blame."

She nodded her head gratefully. "I appreciate the gesture, but I will file my own report as well."

"Very well then. I would ask if you would like to stay to eat but…" I looked over at the remains of the kitchen where there were no longer any appliances. "I'm afraid all we could serve would be nothing."

Quintessa laughed a moment. "Yes, I can imagine. No, I will simply take my leave, you seem to have plenty to do." She gestured and Hawke and Wylf both followed her out. I walked with them as was protocol, until they got in their lander and lifted off.

I headed back inside and met the gazes of my crew. "Well, against all odds, and despite this being the craziest plan we have ever tried, I think it worked, I think she bought it."

I could see looks of relief on everyone's faces. "Thank the Emperor," said Liliy. She set down the broom she was using to sweep debris and sat down on the floor, her head in her hands. Hecuter knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to kill Ailish for shooting me in the back," Aki said darkly from the couch. She moved to stand up and winced. "This hurts like hell."

I laughed. "No killing her. With luck, _The Rose_ has picked her up by now and she will be down by nightfall on a shuttle. Besides, at least she hit your back and didn't miss."

Aki had to admit that point. "True, she could have hit my head." She shuddered at the thought of that happening.

I looked around at everyone. "You all played your parts well. This was a risky endeavor, and somehow we all made it through it, hopefully at least." If everything had gone according to plan, then Ailish, who had been playing the part of the prisoner, would have jettisoned herself out the yacht as soon as it broke orbit. She would have been wearing an environment suit, and by now would have drifted close enough to _The Rose_ to have been picked up. The loss of the yacht was a necessary sacrifice, as well as the loss of our kitchen. But if we worked at it, we could have the hole patched by night, when the shuttle carrying Ailish and some new appliances would land. Until then, we would have to subsist on some pre-cooked food, but it was worth it to not be in chains and on our way to die.

Despite the damage and the loss, despite the fact that we had deceived an Inquisitor, which if discovered would lead to us being executed, we were in good spirits. As I watched the people around me share smiles and some hugs, I realized something.

The undertone of tension, of distrust, was gone. We had needed something to unify us in our new faith, and we had found it. I could not help but smile at the thought of that. I had been so worried over the group tearing itself apart and finding some way to solve that. Yet a solution had been dropped into our laps.

I cast a small glance upward, through the house and the sky, to the stars above that. I sent out a silent thanks to whoever would listen, be it the Emperor, the man, or something else. The universe had provided a solution when one was needed most.

I brought myself back to the present and shook my head. I quickly went over to help with the cleaning, a newfound sense of hopefulness following me.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The morning after our little ruse dawned bright and early. The kitchen was a bit more drafty than usual per the hastily patched hole in the side, and everyone got up later than normal. Throughout the day we were on edge, thinking that the ruse had failed and Inquisitor Quintessa had seen through it and would come back to arrest us. Yet as time passed and no communication came from her, nor did we hear the engines of her lander, we began to relax.

It was only when our own shuttle landed, bringing back Ailish and some backup appliances that we were able to more or less completely relax. We spent the evening laughing with each other, pointedly ignoring the danger that we were in. There would be time enough for worry later. For now we simply wanted to enjoy the moment and not think about what was to come. We still had a week, give or take, of resting at our home before we were sent off on whatever suicide mission was awaiting us at the end of the road we had chosen.

I awoke alone, having decided to spend the night drinking with everyone else, I simply came upstairs to my room and passed out. After a long shower to relieve the pain in my head, I went downstairs, dodging Hecuter and Aki who were still asleep on the couch together. Honestly, they were a cute couple like that, curled up together on the cushions.

Smiling at the sight of them together, I made my way into the kitchen and started munching on cold soylens viridians, just to get something in my stomach. I glanced over and saw Mordecai sitting at our now scorched table, which was also missing a small chunk off of one side.

Taking my bowl, I sat down across from him. "What brings you down here so early?" I asked. Normally he would stay in his room, surrounded by books or dataslates, or both, and would come down only for meals. Mordecai was not exactly a social person. He seemed to understand that he lacked a few social graces and rather than learn them, he simply avoided being social. I had taken him to a few formal gatherings at Planetary Governer's palaces, Lord Admiral/General's, or others, and he had performed admirably there, holding conversation and, usually, managing to stay away from any topic regarding mating habits. Yet he simply preferred to avoid those kinds of situations if at all possible. Those among my crew generally tolerated his anti-social tendencies and gave him his space. After all, engaging him in conversation meant you needed to have a few spare hours.

He looked up at me. "I've been thinking," he started. I just looked at him and waited. "Have you any idea what is going to happen in a week's time?"

I shook my head. "No, not a clue really. The only thing that the man told me was that we would be helping to prevent the extinction of Mankind. He said he would explain more after this week."

"I have researched a few things. When the man gave me access to his library I took the time to browse the shelves, just to see what all he had. I came across some titles that even I could not read. But that's beside the point." He paused a moment before continuing, seeming to arrange his thoughts. "I might have an idea what he wants us to do."

I found myself listening closely. I had tried many times to think of what the man wanted us to do, each time coming up blank. "He has notes on each and every race out there that Mankind has encountered, and many that we haven't. By using some of his notes, combined with my own knowledge, I may have come up with something."

He reached into the sleeve of his robe and pulled out a dataslate. "Let me walk you through this. He told you that Mankind is facing extinction, a true threat that has a good chance of wiping us out." As he talked he was tapping buttons on the dataslate. "So then , we start with the most obvious enemy, The Great Enemy, Chaos. While it is true that Chaos is a true threat to us, they are less of a threat for extinction. The Dark Gods don't want to kill us, they want to convert us, so it's really not a matter of extinction.

"So then after that is the Tau. They were once simply a wart on our side, but that wart turned into a thorn, which became a knife. By ignoring them, we gave them the chance to expand. However, while they are technologically advanced, they rely on political machinations and hit and run tactics. They simply do not have the numbers to challenge us directly. If we were to gather the numbers and attack them, we could run them over. So that rules them out."

He paused to take a breath and tap a few more buttons. "So then we move on to the Eldar. They are hardly a threat to us, overall. They have been a dying race for over 10,000 years, ever since the birth of Slaanesh wiped out most of them. There are so few of them left that they simply keep on the move in their craftworlds. Same for the Dark Eldar, the pirates. They hide in their city of Commorogh and come out only to take prisoners. They worship depravity and death, yet they still do not have the numbers to challenge us."

I was following him as he spoke. Most of what he was saying I had thought of at some point or another. I suppose I had failed to connect it all together, which was why I had Mordecai on my team. He saw things and made connections that we all missed. Plus his vast intellect and knowledge was a constant source of information about whatever we needed to know. I always consulted him before going out on a mission for things like background information on a target, the planet, the system, whatever I needed or wanted, and plenty I did not need nor want.

"So then we have eliminated Chaos, the Tau, the Eldar, and the Dark Eldar as the threats. That leaves us with two options, each one potentially the one the man is talking about, at least in my opinion. The first one is the simpler option, the Tyranids." I nodded my head. "No one knows where they came from, only that they appeared in our galaxy from another one and immediately started to consume all life they came across. They are hard to kill, and for each one we do kill, it seems as if two more take its place.

This seems as if it is the most likely option, yet there is one other option that I can think of, and to me it seems to be the correct one." He paused again. "I have spent countless time studying everything we know about the Tyranids. There are many theories about where they came from, what they are, etcetera. There is one theory that a lot of the evidence points towards. That the Tyranids are not invading our galaxy, but fleeing their own galaxy."

I could feel my mouth wanting to drop at that bombshell, but I forced it to stay closed. "What evidence points towards this?" I asked him.

"Well, when Mankind first encountered the Tyranids, before they had a name, they invaded Tyran and wiped the planet out, hence the name. Since then, they have had several fleets show themselves and each fleet has been making its way around the galaxy seemingly at random. There is no rhyme or reason the where they are going. They are disorganized and each fleet does not communicate, as far as we know, with each other.

"This lends itself to the theory that they are simply fleeing. They have been known to pass by planets and invade others seemingly without cause. We know they are intelligent, at least the bigger ones are. An invading army would have cohesion, would have a plan. They don't."

I nodded. "Alright, so assume this theory is true. Then that would mean that they were fleeing something from their own galaxy. Yet what could an enemy as fearsome as the Tyranids be fleeing?"

"That, Arianna, is the question that begs answering. If the Tyranids are running scared from something, then what is it? And is that something coming for us now, following the Tyranids through the void?" He let the questions sink in for a moment before continuing. "It is my belief that the Tyranids are indeed running from something, and that that something is now coming for us. That is what the man is afraid of."

I leaned back in my chair, letting everything that had just been said sink in. It made sense. When the Tyranids had first arrived, we treated them as an invading army. Yet their random patterns, their avoidance of certain planets, planets rich with biomass, and their invasion of other planets with far less biomass, confused our tacticians. The Tyranid also made no distinction between other races. They attacked human, Ork, Eldar, Tau equally. It was only because we had the most numbers that we saw the brunt of the damage.

And yet, the mere thought that there was something worse than the Tyranids out there was frightening. Then to think that we would be actually confronting and fighting this, whatever it was, made me want to run and hide, and to tell the man to go frak himself when he came back.

I will admit that I was terrified. No rational being would not be. Yet at the same time, there was another part of me, the part that was dedicated to the preservation of Mankind. Even if what Mordecai said was true, and this is the enemy we would be facing, then perhaps our only hope was a concentrated and swift strike, before whatever it was expected anything.

I had to have faith in what the man had planned, if not for the sake of humanity, than for the sake of my sanity. Knowing what I know, having been shown what I have, I needed something. If I had nothing to believe in, I would be nothing. My faith in what I knew was gone, so I clutched at even the smallest opportunity to believe in something.

I suppose you could call me a beggar, someone who would grab at anything that came along. Except instead of money or food, I wanted faith, something to believe in, something to lift up my spirits and drag me out of whatever metaphorical shithole I was in. I could imagine myself on some corner somewhere, a piece of plasteel in one hand with writing on it. "Will believe in anything."

Yet that was not quite true. No matter what happened, I could never bring myself to believe in the forces of Chaos. Depravity, death, lust and destruction. These were ideals that I could never believe in, things that I could never endorse. I did still have faith in one thing, a faith that could never be broken. I had faith that I would never turn to the powers of Chaos, that I would never embrace what they stood for. It was my faith in our dear Emperor that was broken and gone.

I broke myself from my internal dialogue. "Mordecai, I want you to keep this to yourself. Until we know for certain what is going to happen, I don't want to needlessly scare everyone any more than they already are."

He nodded at me. "I understand. I only felt that you should know what you were getting yourself into."

"Thank you for that Mordecai." I reached over and grasped one of his wizened and wrinkled hands in mine. "I appreciate it, honestly."

"You're welcome." He gave my hand a rather fatherly pat. "Now go on and eat your breakfast, then go on and hurry up and rest. Emperor knows that you are going to need it if I'm right." He dropped my hand from his and stood up. "Now, I'm going back to my room. Have a good day Arianna."

He turned and shuffled away, making no attempt to quiet himself as he walked past the couch. I don't know whether it was because of the drink or the sleep, but the occupants of the couch neither moved nor woke up.

I watched him shuffle his way up the stairs, thinking about how he had somehow done it again. You see, there is one other role that Mordecai plays on the team. Seeing as to how he is the oldest person on the team, that we know of (Ailish still won't tell us her true age, and tech-priests do not age normally with all those mechanical parts). Mordecai took on the role of team father sometimes. He may be socially awkward and not know how to act in crowds, but his perception and knowledge lent itself to one talent. He could tell what a person was feeling simply by looking at them. He could read people better than anyone else I know.

Now while it was true that most of the time he simply ignored it, he could if needed. He could tell when someone was feeling down, and in his own little way he could figure out what it was and help a person through it, generally annoying them the entire time. He was, underneath all that smart-assery and annoyingness, a genuinely caring person. He cared for each member of the team, and took it upon himself to occasionally check in on everyone. Even though he had just dropped me a massive bombshell, in the end he still managed to make me feel good.

I shook my head and continued to eat my food, wondering all the while what was going to happen in the next week.

As it turned out, I did not have to wonder that hard though. The rest of the week passed rather quietly. The days were spent, after we finalized repairs to the house, lounging around the house or yard, working on projects, spending time at the firing range in the field, and gathering with each other for fun or simply to talk.

So it was that, a week and a day after getting home, I was sitting outside when a sound most unpleasant reached my ears. It was the sound of an incoming craft. I was not expecting anyone from the ship to be paying a visit, they all considered landing on a world for any purpose other than getting supplies to be heresy, and it was not time for any deliveries, so I was curious who it was. There was a small chance that it was someone from town, here on some errand, or perhaps wanting me to arbitrate something.

As the sound got louder, I was able to place it as a lander craft, although what specific type I could not tell. I placed a hand over my eyes and looked up, trying to see the craft itself. I caught a glimpse of it, but before I could tell what it was, I lost it in the sun. It was only after another few moments that it reappeared and I saw it for what it was.

"Shit," I said. Liliy looked over at me from where she was sunning herself on the chair next to mine.

"What is it Ari?" she asked.

"Maybe trouble, maybe nothing."

I got up and made my way over to the secondary landing field, prepared to meet our visitor. Whether I would greet it with open arms or a loaded gun, that remained to be seen.

Walking through the grass, I kept one eye on the lander and watched as it circled the house once before settling down on its struts. I walked up to where the craft was sitting and simply waited. I kept one hand close to the butt of my pistol, just in case it was needed. I had no idea what type of reception to expect.

I listened as the lander's engines shut off and the scene went quiet. The only sound was the breeze slipping between the blades of grass, caressing my hair and face gently. I tilted my head back savoring the breeze.

The silence was broken with a hiss as gas escaped the lander in a white cloud, followed by the ramp lowering to the ground, revealing a single solitary figure.

The figure walked down the bottom of the ramp and stood there, facing me from only a foot away. Suddenly, the figure spread its arms wide open. "Arianna, how has this last week been for you?"

"Quintessa, it has been an honestly relaxing week. Well, other than the little fiasco the last time you were here. But the damage has been repaired, and as you most likely saw on your way in, a shuttle from _The Rose_ is here until I can get another yacht, or maybe a gunship this time, I haven't decided really." I shrugged my shoulders.

Quintessa let out a laugh. "Well, I'm glad."

I decided to jump the gun and ask the question that needed to be asked, just politely. "So, what brings you back here then?"

She looked at me for a moment before walking up to me and putting am arm around my shoulders, spinning me around and leading me towards the house. "Well, I concluded my other business in this system, and since I don't have to go drop off a prisoner, I decided to drop by for a visit, a friendly one this time. Before earlier, we haven't seen each other in years."

I felt my heart slow down after she had finished speaking. I was worried for a moment that she was here to arrest me and my crew, or just execute us. Instead, she was simply here for a visit, which while unusual for my home (given its location), was not unheard of. There was also the fact that she was alone, no Interrogator or bodyguard like last time.

I could feel my tension easing away as we walked to the house, Quintessa chattering away about some mission she had gone on. As we walked in the door, with the others looking on, I even felt myself enjoying the situation. Admittedly, I seclude myself on purpose, but I do enjoy the occasional visitor who was not bound in chains.

"Arianna, Quintessa," came a greeting from the couch as we entered the living room. I looked over and saw Aki sitting there with Hecuter, the two of them watching us, although I could see the careful look in their eyes.

"Ah, Aki yes?" Quintessa said, sweeping over to the couch. "How is your back doing? I believe the last time we met, you were shot."

Aki looked away for a moment before composing herself. "I'm okay. I was wearing armor underneath, which took most of the hit. I still have a bit of a bruise, but I'm fine."

"That's good." She turned her view towards Hecuter. "And you, how's your head?"

"Ah, it's alright. Just a good knock, but not too bad."

"Good, good." Quintessa looked back towards me. "Where's the rest of your crew Arianna? I would love to meet them under better circumstances then. Especially that handsome Trelli fellow," she winked at me.

I sighed. To my memory, Quintessa was never this airheaded. She was normally a hard person to get along with. Either she was turning over a new leaf, unlikely, or she was simply trying to get along better with people.

"They are around, somewhere. I can gather them if you would like."

"Oh don't bother, I don't want to be an imposition. Besides, I assume that some meal will be served soon, and if memory serves, then you all eat together. So I will see everyone then."

She then sat herself down on the couch next to Aki. "So tell me then, what all have you been up to since we last saw each other, any good missions or anything?"

I sat down in a chair across from the couch. "Oh, you know, it's been the usual. Periods of boredom watching some nowhere followed by periods of insanity stalking through the jungles or cities of some planet after whatever enemy inhabits the area."

"I know, the life of an Inquisitor is a wild one." She smiled at me as she said the next thing. "You never know what the next day is going to bring."

I could not help but feel a sense of unease take hold of me. Something was wrong with this situation, but I could not put my finger on it. As I watched Quintessa interact with Aki and Hecuter, it eluded me still further. It seems the longer I looked for it, the further away it moved from my sight.

Unfortunately, I did not have much time to try and discover what was wrong. Aki excused herself to go start dinner and Hecuter took the opportunity to follow her, leaving me alone with Quintessa.

As I thought of what I was going to do to Hecuter to pay him back, Quintessa took no time in attempting to ask me about the worst mission I had been on.

So the conversation went. Quintessa would ask me questions and I would answer them, all the while still trying to figure out where this sense of wrongness was coming from. Yet I still could not figure it out. The conversation was pleasant, which was surprising given that it was Quintessa.

As it was though, Aki came back into the living room long enough to inform us that dinner was ready. As she was speaking, the sound of the bell rang out over the compound, summoning everyone to dinner.

Quintessa hopped up from the couch. "Well then, shall we go eat?"

I stood up, albeit slower than her and with less gusto. "I suppose we shall."

I led her into the kitchen where she appraised the table, still with a small chunk missing. Her only visible reaction though was a raised eyebrow. "Interesting table Arianna," she commented.

I nodded my head. "Thank you. I believe it's all the rage now on Bastion. You know me, always trying to keep up with the latest trends."

Quintessa threw back her head and laughed. It was unsettling to say the least. I had never heard anything more than a chuckle escape her lips, so to hear her outright bellow with laughter was perhaps one of the most unsettling things I had ever been witness too.

I forced a laugh out politely. "Quintessa, please, have a seat here." I pointed her towards a chair at one end of the table.

She nodded her head in thanks and sat down. In singles and pairs, the others came in and sat down, each one showing no surprise at the presence of our visitor. At least, they showed no surprise that Quintessa would be able to pick up. I could tell that they were each feeling nervous as to why she was here.

It was only Trelli, in his usual blunt manner, who asked me why she was here. Although to his credit, he did lean over and make an attempt at whispering. I told him that she was here simply to visit.

Conversation stopped briefly though once everyone had filled their plates. For a while the only sounds were the scraping of utensils and chewing noises as people dug in to Aki's delicious meal.

Yet when the eating slowed down and people were leaning back into their chairs, savoring the food and relaxing, Quintessa brought back conversation.

"So tell me, things look quite back to normal after what happened a week ago. How has that affected your being here at home, knowing that your home was damaged by a Chaos prisoner?"

I noticed everyone exchanging looks amongst each other before Trelli spoke up. "To be honest, it really hasn't done much. We've had prisoners here before, and indeed one has escaped before, although that was the fault of someone else." Liliy's sheepish look was not missed by Quintessa. "So really, it's not bad."

Quintessa nodded her head. "I haven't heard about your other escape. So there have been no lasting consequences from letting an Agent of Chaos loose in your house? No taint here?"

I shook my head. "No Quintessa, no taint here. We repaired the damage and Ailish consecrated it again." I gestured to the table. "As you can see, I still need a new table, but other than that, it's all done."

I clasped my hands together and leaned on the table, fixing Quintessa with a glare. I still was not sure what she was up too, but she was quickly wearing out her welcome if she was going to accuse my people of being tainted.

"Quintessa, as marvelous as your visit is, I would appreciate it if you would not accuse myself or my people of being tainted."

Being completely unfazed by my stare, she sent me one back. "Well Arianna," she said, all trace of her airheadedness dropped. "I ask only because I have yet to receive a report from you about the happenings of a week ago. So as a fellow Inquisitor, it is my duty to investigate the possibility that you or someone under your employ has been corrupted."

If it were not for the fact that after the last month I had built up a tolerance to surprise, I probably would have felt it. As it was though, I simply kept up my glare. "Well, as you can see, no one here is corrupted. So if you would please cease and desist."

Quintessa was, however, resolute in her authority. Which while technically she has authority over her own crew, and my own, they being Agents of the Inquisition but not Inquisitors themselves, it was an unspoken rule of the Inquisition that an Inquisitors Agents were solely under their authority. It was up to each individual Inquisitor to police their own Agents.

So it was that Quintessa was breaking a rule, unspoken though it may be. That was enough to start pissing me off.

"Arianna," she started. "You know as well as I do that it is our job to root out Chaos wherever it may lie, even if that be within other Inquisitors, or their agents, or even people we may consider friends."

"That may be true," I countered. "Yet it is not your place to inspect my own people, that is my job."

"It may be your job, and perhaps it is. Yet the job falls to me if it is suspected that you, Arianna, have fallen to Chaos."

I stood up, knocking over my chair. "How dare you Quintessa. How dare you sit at my table, eat my food, and accuse me of heresy." I was practically shouting at her now. For her part, she just sat there, unmovable and watching me. I could see my crew shifting around as well. They each knew that if I was accused of heresy, they were all going to be taken in and questioned for taint as well, a process which would most likely end with their deaths or incarceration.

Quintessa rode the storm of my anger admirably well. "Oh but I do dare Arianna. I dare for one reason." Suddenly, her glare dropped and she resumed smiling, like she had been doing all day. "I dare because honestly, I think it's a load of shit."

I stopped from where I was getting ready to leap across the table and strangle her. Her response caught me completely off guard. "What?" I managed to get out.

"You heard me Arianna dear, I don't believe that you are a heretic."

I found myself at a loss for words. Throughout her entire visit, she had put on this veneer of happiness and smiles. It had disconcerted me and caused me to suspect her, as it seems rather rightly, that she was up to something. Yet it seems that she was simply testing me, seeing how I would react, attempting to root out a sign of heresy in me.

There must have been some sort of a odd look on my face as Quintessa laughed again. "I'm sorry for the façade there. It was simply my way of testing you."

"Right," I said. "So you don't think I'm a heretic?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't. What I do think is…"

We were interrupted by a loud sound coming from outside. My keen ears picked it out as the sound of a chaingun spinning up and spitting out bullets. There were lots of little pinging noises as the bullets hit something metallic, followed by a large explosion. The ground shook a bit as the explosion happened, causing each of us to steady ourselves. I gripped onto the table and looked down, making sure that I was not going to fall over. When I looked up, I was in for another shock. There was a pistol being leveled at my face.

"Inquisitor Arianna, I am hereby placing you and your entire crew under arrest. I will admit, it was a good trick you played a week ago, but you forgot one thing. I inspected the wreckage of your yacht, and I found no trace of any biological, at all. So in fact, that yacht was empty when it was destroyed.

"From this, I surmise that whoever was in that yacht simply ejected out a port and was picked up by your own ship. I saw most of your crew, except for your savant," she gestured to Mordecai, "And your tech-priest," she gestured to Ailish.

"I assume your tech-priest was piloting and ejected. Of course, this means that there was no prisoner, which brings up two different scenarios. Either you failed to capture the prisoner, or you let him go. Either scenario, well… Let's just say it does not bode well for you."

As I stared down the sights of this pistol, I could see out of the corner of my eye my crew watching in abject horror. Seeing as this was our home and we had no prisoner here, we never bothered to wander around armed. I only carried my pistol because otherwise Ailish might try and sneak into my room and grab it. Since Quintessa was armed and we were not, she had an advantage. No one wanted to try and rush her in case she ended up giving me some additional cranial ventilation.

"So," I asked Quintessa, "This is how it's going to be then?"

She nodded. "Yes, this is how it is going to be."

She used her free hand to gesture to my crew. "You and your crew are under arrest. The charge is for aiding and abetting the escape of a heretic, attempting to trick an Agent of The Holy Inquisition, and for being a traitor. The sound you heard was my lander destroying your shuttle. Should you attempt to escapes, the lander will stop you. You must submit yourself to the Inquisition for interrogation."

I narrowed my eyes at Quintessa. Despite all the bravado that I was showing, there was really only one thing I could say to that: "Shit."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As I stood across from Quintessa, holding a pistol at my face, and being branded a traitor, I weighed my options. I could try something surprising and disarm her, I could submit and try to escape later, or I could rely on my crew to do something. Either way though, Quintessa herself was only one problem. Waiting just outside was her lander, which was well armed and quite willing to cut us to pieces if we left the house. The lander had already destroyed our shuttle after all.

Quintessa was also no fool, she was bound to have backup somewhere. I was a little surprised that they were not already storming the house, but she must have told them to keep back, wanting to see if I would submit peacefully.

I watched her eyes, looking for any sign of information in them I could find. Her cold blue eyes were narrowed into slits as she regarded me, hatred clear in them. Yet behind the hatred was something else. I could not tell exactly what it was, regret perhaps? Yet her eyes told me what I needed to know. She and I were close, perhaps even friends, but she was prepared to do what needed to be done, even if that meant potentially killing me.

I judged my options, running through plans in my mind, each crazier than the last, and each being discarded as too crazy. Unfortunately, Quintessa's patience had run low. "Submit now Arianna, or I will be forced to bring you in by force." She reached into a pocket with her free hand and brought out small comm-bead. She inserted the device into her ear.

That answered the question of how she had been communicating with her people. They had probably set up a series of clicks to mean certain things. I had noticed her hand in her pocket occasionally, but thought nothing of it. I mentally kicked myself for not anticipating this, Quintessa's odd behavior had me distracted, which was the point.

I let out a sigh and held out my hands. "Fine, I submit. Just leave my crew out of this, they had nothing to do with anything." If I had expected her to be surprised, I would have been mistaken. Keeping her eyes narrow, she reached into another pocket and pulled out a set of cuffs.

Throwing them at me she instructed me to put them on myself. I had half hoped she would drop her guard and try to put them on me herself, but that was not to be. I reached down and grabbed the cuffs. "What about my crew?" I asked, holding the cuffs but not having put them on yet.

"Unfortunately, I will have to take them in as well, but I assure you they will be treated with respect." She really did seem sorry about that, but her sense of duty was stronger than any sense of regret she might feel.

"I see…" I said. I moved to put the cuffs on, grabbing one of the wrist circles with a single hand and moving it over towards my opposite wrist, before slinging out the cuffs in an arc towards the gun. The table we were sitting at was somewhat wide, but not wide enough that with the extra length afforded by the cuffs I could not hit at least the hand holding the gun.

The move seemed to surprise her just enough to buy me that half second I needed. By the time her finger squeezed the trigger, the cuffs had hit her hand and her aim was shifted just enough that the bullet, which was meant for my forehead, instead grazed my cheek. The pain was manageable and I sequestered it down.

I took advantage of my newfound opening, leaping up onto the table in one, I hope, fluid leap and attempting to tackle Quintessa. Unfortunately, she met my leap with her empty fist, her reflexes being faster that I had hoped. Her fist connected with my shoulder, throwing me off just enough that my tackle would have missed, had not Trelli, who had been sitting next to her, acted as well.

As soon as I had attacked, he had wound up a large punch, throwing it at Quintessa. My tackle may have missed, but his attack did not. Caught unawares dealing with me, she took the full force of a Trelli punch to the head. The blow managed to lift her smaller frame off the ground momentarily, before she landed again.

Having been hit by Trelli before, I was surprised she managed to keep her feet. I thought for a moment she would go on attacking, but Trelli was quicker. He moved behind her and grabbed one of her arms, pinning it behind her while his foot swept her legs out from under her. She fell to the ground and landed face first. Using his knee in the small of her back, as well as the arm he still had, Trelli was now in control of Quintessa.

I stood up, having fallen over missing my tackle. Quintessa was struggling against Trelli, but he was strong, so she would not break free. I saw her free hand reaching for her gun, dropped when she had been hit, but I beat her too it, picking it up and pointing it at her. She stopped struggling and instead glared at me fiercely. I reached down and pulled out the comm-bead, crushing it in my hand.

"I was going to be lenient you know," Quintessa said from the floor. "But now you have signed your own death warrant. Yours and your crews. The Inquisition will hunt you down now."

I squatted down and looked her in the eye. "They can try. But remember, I am an Inquisitor as well. I have hunted my fair share of people. I know how it works, and so how to work around it."

Looking around, I grabbed to cuffs off of the table. I put one around one of her wrists and secured the other around a narrow part of a table leg. She would not be able to slide the cuffs off the table leg, nor slide them off her wrists. I searched her pockets and found the key to the cuffs, placing it in my own pocket.

Trelli still had her in a lock, so I motioned for him to let her go, which he did reluctantly. Wriggling around, she managed to bring herself to a sitting position facing us. By this time, the rest of my crew had gathered around us.

"I really thought that you had not been a traitor Arianna, but now I think differently."

I shook my head. "I am no traitor. I am still loyal to Mankind. The man we found, yes I let him go, but I had my reasons. Reasons far too complicated to spell out here, when I'm sure your backup in on the way."

Quintessa glared at me still. "Loyal to Mankind, but what about The Emperor?" she asked.

I just looked at her, hoping to convey the pain I felt with my eyes. "For other reasons, I no longer believe in Him. I hope that one day you will be able to understand this. Maybe someday I will be able to tell you why I am doing what I'm doing." I paused for a moment to let my words sink in, even though I knew it was going to have no effect. "But until then, you will just have to hope I can accomplish what I'm trying to do."

I stood up them, feeling my legs aching from the awkward squatting position. I motioned to my crew. "We're leaving, using Plan Omega." They all nodded, having prepared for this but never expecting to use it.

I turned back to Quintessa, who was looking at me with such hatred I thought I would burst into flames right there. "Goodbye Quintessa. I hope the next time we meet, it's on better terms."

She spat at me, the glob of spittle hitting me in the face. "The next time we meet, you're dead, bitch." I wiped off the spit and gave her a smile.

"I look forward to it then," I said. The look on her face went from hatred to confusion briefly. I turned around and addressed the group. Quintessa miraculously stayed quiet, probably hoping to hear some information out of us. "We are leaving in thirty seconds, grab what you need and let's go. We don't know when her backup will arrive and that lander will probably start shooting if it doesn't hear from her."

It is amazing what one can do in thirty seconds when one's life is literally on the line. The group scattered, each knowing what needed to be done. I myself ran up the stairs into my room, grabbing my gun and dagger off the desk, as well as a pre-packed small bag, and leaving.

We met up in thirty seconds in the living room, Quintessa still sitting by the table, although it looked like she was trying to get the cuffs off and had only stopped when we reappeared. "Let's go," I said. I did not need to tell them each what to do, we had practiced it before. Trelli nodded and picked up the table sitting in the middle of the seating area, literally tossing it to the side. Hecuter and Aki picked up the rug underneath the table and tossed it aside as well, revealing a small trap door in the floor.

Liliy opened the door and dropped down, vanishing into the darkness below. One by one, my crew jumped down. While they were doing so, I took one last look at the house, somehow knowing that this would be the last time I would ever see it. The place had been my home for decades now, and it was sad to lose it.

I looked over at Quintessa, who was now actively struggling against the cuffs, not worried about being seen. I knew the table was strong, but it would not take her long to get free. I guessed that it was maybe a couple of minutes at best, less if her backup arrived.

Finally, everyone was down the hole except myself and Trelli. I nodded to him and he nodded back, before he leapt down the hole. I was about to jump down myself when there was an explosion and the far wall in the kitchen, the one we had just repaired, blew inwards. I caught only a glimpse of several people dressed in fatigues coming through before I leapt down, falling into darkness.

I landed a few seconds later and rolled. I was now in a tunnel that led from the house to the outer shed where we kept our escape vehicles. I knew that Quintessa would tell the soldiers where we had gone, but Trelli was already working on that. He hit a small button on the wall, and the trapdoor above closed and sealed. It would only buy us seconds, but the button also armed a small explosive which would detonate at any attempt to breach the door. I briefly mourned the loss of life the charge would create, these were soldiers only doing their job.

Most of the crew had already started making their way down the tunnel, which was unlit and in pure darkness. Yet we had each gone through here until we had it memorized. The idea was that any attackers would either stumble blindly through it, encountering some traps we had set up, or turn on a light and reveal their position. Trelli and I were the only ones left at the entrance. "Come on Arianna, we have to go." His words were punctuated by a bang from the door above.

"Right," I said. Together we made our way down the tunnel, making sure to step over certain areas and step higher in others to avoid the trap triggers. Some of the traps were non-lethal, but others would kill you, so we had to be careful.

It was not too far to the other end, where the others were waiting. The distance from the house to the shed was only about forty yards. Trelli and I arrived and moved to the front of the group. I looked up, at the small door set into the ceiling right above my head. The best part about the tunnel was that it sloped upwards from the house. Both so that we never had to climb a ladder at the end, saves time, and so that we could roll explosives back at any chasers. There was a small box at this end filled with round charges for this very purpose. Yet there was no way I was going to do that. I wanted to leave as many of the soldiers alive as possible, since none of them deserved to die for this.

As I opened the door, a bright flash from the other end of the tunnel lit up the area and a rumble shook the walls. The people at the other end had managed to set off the charges on the door. This meant that they would be stunned for a moment due to the explosion, but would soon be in the tunnel and upon us. I wondered briefly if Quintessa had been killed or injured, but she was too crafty for that. She would be expecting some sort of trap.

I opened the door and pulled myself out. I grabbed my pistol from its holster and scanned the room. The exit was behind a false wall in the shed, and the small room was empty. I whistled once and the rest of my crew came up.

As they did so, I released the latches on the false wall and it fell inwards, landing against some crates with a thud, forming a ramp. I led the way again, pistol at the ready in case Quintessa had sent some people to secure this building. After a quick scan of the room though, I saw no one.

Inside this room was a work area which had been claimed by Ailish. It was filled with various odds and ends, bits and pieces of machinery. Aside from that, we were in the storage area which was filled with stacked crates containing anything from weapons, ammunition, foodstuffs, and anything else we might need. I knew Trelli had a couple boxes of grenades around somewhere. While most of our storage was on _The Rose_, we kept some here in case we needed it. The only other things in the room were two small skimmers.

The skimmers were designed for atmospheric flight only. We would not be able to reach our ship in orbit with them, but we did not have to. I had one more secret to this plan. I had a small backup shuttle hidden a few hundred kilometers away. All we had to do was reach that and then pray that Liliy could get us up to our ship.

Liliy and Ailish, being our two best pilots, each got into a separate craft and started powering it up. The decision to have two smaller crafts was for two reasons. The first was that should one get shot down or captured, then only half the team would be gone and the other half could escape and get away. The second was that smaller craft were generally faster and more maneuverable.

I watched as my crew got into their pre-assigned skimmers. Only Trelli and I were left on the ground. He and I looked at each other for a moment. "If one of us doesn't make it," he began. "Then I want you to know that this week with you has been the best one of my life." He leaned down and briefly kissed me. I could sense the feelings he imparted in the kiss, of longing and love, tinged with sadness.

Our lips parted and with one last look, we each boarded our separate skimmers. "See you when this is over," I called to him. He just smiled and closed the hatch on the skimmer.

I closed the hatch on my skimmer and took the seat next to the pilot's which was filled by Liliy. She looked over at me, her hands still bust turning on the craft. "Don't worry Ari, I haven't failed you yet and I don't intend to start now." I looked at the young girl, sitting there. I could tell she was afraid, but she still ran through the motions with a confidence that only came when someone's life was on the line.

I smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you will," I told her. She gave me a weak smile and turned back to her instruments. I saw her give a thumbs up out the window, the signal to Ailish that we were ready. She must have gotten on back because she turned to me. "We're ready."

I nodded. I pulled a small device out of a compartment in the front of the craft. The device was simple, consisting only of a few buttons. "Here we go," I said and pushed one of the buttons.

Small charges set up in the roof of the shed went off, blowing a section of the roof up and out, as they were designed to do. As they were going off, the two skimmers were already lifting off. By the time the roof hit the ground a moment later, we were already out of the building and accelerating towards the sky.

Our first order of business was to put as much distance between us and the lander as possible. If given half a chance, the thing would blow us out of the sky. I could feel the craft shudder as Liliy coaxed everything possible out of the engines.

Luck was with us though, as the lander had been on the opposite side of the compound from us. With its large size and bulk, it was slow to turn around. By the time it had brought its gun about and fired at us, we were out of the effective range of the chaingun. A few bullets hit our craft, but they did little more than scratch the paint. With the engines on the lander, it would not be able to keep up with us, much less catch up.

I allowed myself a small sigh of relief. Now all we had to do was get to the shuttle and rendezvous with _The Rose_. I reached out and grabbed the handset of the radio in the skimmer, tuning it to the frequency used for emergencies only between the operatives and the ship. "This is Arianna. Enact plan Omega. I repeat, enact plan Omega. Authorization given." I turned off the radio then, lest Quintessa use it to track us.

Hopefully the crew above got the message and were ready then. I had no idea what Quintessa had brought with her in terms of firepower, but this way perhaps the crew had a fighting chance.

I turned around and watched the distance recede behind us. I kept an eye out for something in particular. After a long minute, with worry growing in me all the time, what if the ship had not gotten the message, what if the crew was compromised and Quintessa's forces had control over it, I finally saw what I was looking for.

A small twinkle in the night sky, bright enough to be seen this far away, getting bigger. Suddenly, a large explosion lit up the night, followed by several more. Part of plan Omega for the crew of our ship was this, using the lance battery to obliterate the compound, leaving nothing behind but a crater.

As I watched the lances of light pound the area where our home had been, I felt sad. Sad that it had come down to this. Sad that Quintessa had perhaps been caught up in the bombardment. And sad that from this moment forward, no matter what happened, I and my crew were now heretics, dead in the Emperor's eye and to be forever hunted by His agents. No matter how the mission turned out with the man, whether we survived or not, we could never go back. We were now doomed to a life on the run, forever hiding and looking over our shoulders, wondering if today was the day the agents caught up to us.

Another thought came unbidden to me. Whatever this man had planned, had better be worth this. We were all throwing away everything to accomplish this. If it turned out he was wrong or mistaken, or if he was simply playing with us, I swore that I would do whatever it took to kill him.

My thoughts were interrupted by Liliy. "Uh Ari, we've got a small problem here." I looked over at her, where she was glancing at a readout on the control panel.

"What," I asked.

"Well, it would appear that Quintessa is serious about that whole killing you thing."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"We've got a squadron of fighters on an intercept course. They will be on us inside of a minute."

"Oh," was all I said. While the lander was not too much of a problem for us to evade, those fighter craft could fly circles around our skimmers and would shoot us out of the sky. Given all that we had put Quintessa through, she had most likely given the pilots orders to simply kill us. So now we had less than a minute to think of something or we were dead.

"Alright, tell Ailish that we are going to try something. Have her pull up right beside us and open her hatch."

Liliy looked at me. "You're crazy," she said, having instantly gotten my plan. But she gestured with her hand in the window and sure enough, I saw the other skimmer pull up right beside us and the hatch opened, revealing Aki standing there.

"Open the hatch," I told Mordecai who was sitting next to it. He nodded is head and opened it. Liliy moved the skimmer so that there was less than a meter between the crafts. I got out of my seat and moved back to the sitting area, where besides Mordecai, Xandria was in there. I had to shout to be heard over the wind. "Jump!"

Mordecai was the first out and he leapt gracefully between the craft and landed in the other skimmer, which rocked a bit from the added weight before Ailish compensated. Xandria was right behind him, but because of the rocking she almost missed and Aki had to pull her in.

I moved back to the pilot area. "Go Liliy, tell Ailish to land and go dark, I will lead the fighters away. When I'm gone, head to the shuttle and get to _The Rose_."

"Are you crazy," she shouted at me. "That's suicide. You won't last a minute against them."

"Just go, that's an order." She glared at me but hit a toggle on the control panel and stood up, the ship now flying itself. She moved back into the area by the open hatch. I stood there and watched as she prepared to jump.

"Ari," she called. I moved over to her to so I could hear her better. I could see Aki waving her arms, telling us to hurry up. "Tell Ailish I'm sorry."

Before I could divine the meaning behind those words, Liliy, with strength I did not know she had, shoved me out of the skimmer. My face barely had time to register surprise before I felt myself dropping.

My fall was stopped by a hand clasping around my wrist, and with a tug that hurt my shoulder, I was dangling underneath a skimmer moving at high speed through the night. Pain burned through my very soul as soon as the hand touched me. I looked up to see Aki had grabbed my wrist and was holding me, keeping me from falling to my death.

A psyker touching an untouchable was bad. It caused immense, searing pain in the psyker. It felt like my soul was on fire, but the other option was to fall, and as much as I hated pain, I wanted to live more. I held on tight as I was pulled up into the skimmer. By the time I was inside and Aki had released me, I was shaking and weary from the pain. I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and pass out, but I fought down that urge and instead looked out the open hatch.

I could see the other skimmer, still next to us but with its hatch closed; no chance of jumping back over. I could see Liliy, back in the pilot's seat, gesturing through the window, telling Ailish what to do next. Once the instructions were over, she gave us all one last wave before she took off, into the sky.

"No, you fool," I said, banging my hand on the floor. Aki reached out and closed the hatch. "No," I said again. "Why didn't you listen to me? I told you to go and I would lead them away."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Mordecai there. "She made her choice," he said, although he looked sad as well. Looking out the window where the skimmer once was.

I felt my stomach roll up as we started descending rapidly. I watched outside as the blackness that was the ground got closer and closer. When we were only a meter over the ground, Ailish cut the engines and we dropped, gouging a scrape in the field. Now that we were dark, hopefully the instruments of the fighters would not register us, or register us as part of the ground.

We waited and watched into the night. Soon, the fighters came into view, we could see their engines glowing. Their weapons lit up as they spotted the other skimmer, which in the light created by the guns we could see weaving back and forth between the bullets. It looked for all the world like a dance, but this dance was deadly if done wrong.

I will give Liliy credit, her piloting skills were amazing. She nimbly weaved the small craft through the air, dodging the fighters and leading them on a merry chase. We watched her skimmer as it moved, before one of the fighters, which had been hanging back, flashed and a missile sped towards the skimmer.

Liliy must have seen it coming, because at the last second, she temporarily cut power to the engines and the skimmer dropped like a rock, the missile flying through the space it had just been. Restoring power, the skimmer took off again before another missile could be fired.

As the fight grew more distant, and we became unable to pick out the skimmer, we started to move. Ailish restored power and we lifted off and started to move. With the fighters distracted and away from us, we could move quietly away. Ailish was keeping us so low to the ground, that the crops were scraping the underside.

We moved away, but we could still catch flashes as the fight continued. Suddenly, there was a much larger flash that could only belong to an explosion. I gasped, knowing then that the fighters had finally won, that they had destroyed the skimmer. I hoped for a moment that Liliy had been able to bail out, but I knew that was false. Being the kind of pilot and person that she was, she would have stayed with the skimmer until the end.

As I watched the explosion, knowing that one of my friends had just died, I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Normally, I would have been ashamed of crying in front of my crew, but this time I was not. I looked around and saw that each of us in the now very crowded skimmer was watching out the window, and I was not the only one shedding a tear. Aki had several rolling down her cheeks, and she wrapped her arms around Hecuter who pulled her close.

Everyone in that skimmer felt sadness. While Liliy had only been with us for a few years, she had become an integral part of the team, as well as a friend to us all. She was the youngest of any of us and even though she got on our nerves a lot, she was like a little sister to most of us and we had all vowed to protect her. In an ironic twist of fate, she was the one who ended up sacrificing her life to protect us.

Yet as much as we all wanted to mourn her, that would have to come later. We still had to worry about getting out of here and to the shuttle, or we would be joining Liliy shortly. I squeezed past Mordecai and Xandria and went up to the front, where Ailish sat in the pilot's chair and Trelli next to her.

Ailish herself looked sad at the passing of her best friend, but it seemed to be under control for the most part. She concentrated hard on flying, on keeping us low and fast. The fighters would most likely start their search by combing the area where Liliy had died, but would soon move out. We had to be gone by then.

Fortunately, we made it to the hiding place of our shuttle with no further problems. The fighters had not found us and were most likely either still searching, or had gone back to their ship for refueling. As Ailish landed the skimmer, it was a very solemn and quiet group who got out.

We had landed on the shore of a small lake. The lake was used to irrigate local crops, and hide our shuttle. I took out the small device with the buttons, which I had put in a pocket, and pressed another of the buttons. There was a quiet whirring noise and long dormant machinery was activated. The surface of the lake rippled and then was pushed up, finally breaking as the shuttle rose up out of its depths.

The shuttle was stored on a metal platform, which was now rising, under the water, undetectable to most scanning devices. As soon as the platform was raised, we quickly opened the hatch and got inside, Ailish going to the pilot's chair and starting the warm-up procedures. She knew that as soon as the engine was on, to go ahead and lift off, making a bee line for our ship in orbit. This shuttle was special, it had been fine-tuned by Ailish for one reason and one reason only: speed. She had done everything she could, even bent a few rules of the Adeptus Mechanicus, to make this shuttle as fast as possible. As it stood, we could probably give those fighters a run for their money. So long as they were not right overhead, we could most likely beat them to the ship, assuming the ship was still under control of Decem and the crew.

I knew that the message I had sent them had gotten there, the destruction of the compound proved that. With luck, they had managed to keep control of the ship if Quintessa had sent any boarders to capture it. Hopefully she had no Space Marines along for the ride. If a squad of Astartes was on board, then reclaiming the ship would be a nightmare, one which we might not survive.

The shuttle's engines whined as it lifted off protesting the sudden movement when they were not fully awake yet. Quickly, Ailish tilted us up to the sky and punched the engines, the whine transforming into a scream. Steam rose beneath us as the engines flash evaporated the water in the lake. The shuttle roared into the sky. There was no reason to be subtle anymore. We would be picked up on auspex soon enough, so might as well be up to full speed by then.

We raced into the sky, a bright trail following us as the engines were pushed to their limits. I glanced at our own auspex and saw that the fighters had noticed us and were turning to intercept. A few calculations and I realized that they would not be able to catch up until we were already out of their range. At least then they would not be able to kill us like they did Liliy. Even though I wanted to go find some way to figure out who they were and make them pay, there was no time.

This being a fast shuttle, the ride into orbit did not take very long, and although there were some noises, no one in our group spoke. We had all unconsciously resolved to get out of danger first, then mourn Liliy.

As we broke the atmosphere and hit orbit, I saw what awaited us. Quintessa had brought along a Navy Frigate with her own ship. Together those two ships were currently engaged with _The Rose_. I could see flashes of light as they fired on each other. Decem was using the superior maneuverability of _The Rose_ to avoid most of the salvoes launched against him. He was also returning fire with some of the hidden weapons. I could see trails as torpedoes were launched towards Quintessa's ship, which was already on fire in several places. He seemed to be leaving the frigate alone and concentrating on taking out one ship. Either he wanted to take out on threat at a time, or he was hoping that if he damaged Quintessa's ship enough, it would retreat and the frigate would go with it.

I grabbed the radio on the shuttle and contacted Decem. It took a moment of hailing, but a vox officer picked up and quickly put Decem on. I could hear him shouting orders before answering. "Inquisitor?" he asked. "What is it, I'm kind of busy?"

"I know," I answered. "I can see you. We are in the shuttle. Open port side bay number twelve and keep it open, we will let you know when we land."

"Yes ma'am," came the reply.

"And captain?"

"Yes?"

I grimaced as I said this. "You are fighting loyal members of the Imperium, but they are still our enemies. Kill them all if you have to."

There was silence on the other end, though I could hear reports and questions being shouted in the background. "Yes ma'am," he said.

The connection went dead then as we zoomed towards the ship. As much as I regretted giving Decem that order, I knew it was necessary. While I truly did not want to kill anyone, I knew that we might have no choice. If Quintessa had survived the destruction of my compound, she would have told her ship and the frigate to make sure we did not leave alive. While they may leave if we deal enough damage to them, most likely they would fight until the bitter end. If Decem could get a lucky hit, we could simply disable the ships so they could not follow us. Yet we would probably have to destroy both ships.

I knew that Decem was a very capable captain, the best there was, and that _The Rose_ was a very capable ship, but against Quintessa's ship and a Navy frigate, the odds were stacked against us. It was two to one, and the frigate was a formidable opponent on its own. Liliy might have sacrificed herself for nothing if we docked only to get destroyed in the battle.

Ailish skillfully piloted us towards _The Rose_, weaving around to try and dodge and incoming fire from the frigate. With luck or the grace of a higher power, we managed to dock inside the bay with nothing more than a few scorch marks from close calls. No sooner were we in than I grabbed the vox and told Decem that we were inside.

The only response was that the docking bay doors slid closed and we were able to exit the shuttle. I could feel the ship vibrating underneath, and as I quickly ran to the bridge, I was occasionally thrown around as Decem initiated evasive maneuvers. Alarms and klaxons were going off and red lights had popped on all around, adding to the chaos. I could see squads of armsmen at certain hatches, ready in case of a boarding action. I sprinted past each of them, not acknowledging them in any way other than to tell them to get out of my way. Each group parted and let me through.

I reached the bridge in record time, having sprinted as fast as my little legs would take me. I screeched to a halt next to Decem, who was at the holo-table which was displaying the battle. He shouted orders to the crewmen who responded quickly. Several of the view screens showed the outside through pict-recorders. He was studying a readout when I arrived.

Being a battle situation, he did not salute me but did acknowledge me with a, "Ma'am." I nodded back to him, winded after running here from the docking bay.

"How goes the battle captain?" I asked him. I felt another tremble run through the ship as we took a hit.

"Well. We have inflicted major damage to one of the vessels while suffering only minor damage ourselves."

"Good," I nodded. His response was to nod back and then shout something to a crewman. I stood on the bridge and watched as Decem turned space warfare into an art form. Despite this being a large ship, he managed to make it weave through the fire. He dodged incoming torpedoes and used his own armaments to score hits against the other ships. He managed to accomplish this without letting the frigate be able to use its fearsome weapons on its side, and without letting them get in shots out our stern. How he managed this, I do not know.

Within thirty minutes of me arriving on the bridge, Quintessa's ship was out of the battle. There had been a series of explosions along its dorsal area and it had stopped moving and firing. For lack of a better term, it was dead in space. Either it had lost power, or it had shut down to prevent it from being destroyed.

That left only the frigate, which was still mostly in one piece, having suffered only minor damage. I knew though, that the situation for us was grim. We had succeeded in taking out one ship, but the frigate was a challenge. I also knew that sooner or later, we were going to run out of torpedoes, or suffer a hit that we could not shrug off. Already we had to put out one fire on one of the decks. Decem had simply evacuated the area and vented the air into space. We would have to go in there later and assess damage and make repairs, but that needed to wait for now.

As I watched the battle between us and the frigate unfold, one that we would most likely lose, something unexplained happened. The frigate ceased firing at us and stood there, still in space. Decem ordered all guns to cease. We waited, nose to nose with the frigate. To an outsider, it would have looked like we were sizing each other up.

The vox operator turned and called out. "The frigate, they are hailing us, asking to speak to the captain."

Decem and I looked at each other, sharing an entire conversation in that one look. I nodded my head and moved over to the vox station. The operator handed me a headset. I held one earpiece up to my ear and the microphone in front of my mouth. "This is Inquisitor Arianna," I said.

There was a burst of static before a voice came on. "This is Captain Miike of the frigate _Redemption_. I contact you because I have orders to do so." I was confused about that, but was willing to hear the man out. "I have been ordered to cease all aggression against you for the moment." The way he said "for the moment" gave me chills. It was as if given half a chance, he would open fire and burn us all. "I am to give you ten minutes to surrender. If after ten minutes you have not shut down your ship and surrendered, I am authorized to destroy you."

With that, the connection went silent. I walked back over to Decem and reported what had happened. "We can use this," he said. I could see the gears in his mind turning as he thought of a plan.

"Use this how? They way it sounds, Miike has not been trying this whole time, and if we start fighting again, I don't think _The Rose_ is going to survive."

He turned to face me. "What if we call Miike back and tell him that we are surrendering and sending over a shuttle. But place as many torpedoes on that shuttle as possible and crash it into the engines? At least then we can leave and he won't be able to follow us."

I shook my head. "And who would pilot that shuttle? It's a suicide mission. There has been enough death already, let's find another way."

Decem looked ready to argue, but my glance silenced him. We both looked back at a viewscreen which was now displaying a countdown timer with eight and a half minutes left.

As the minutes ticked down, no one was having any luck coming up with any ideas. In a straight up fight with Miike actually trying, the odds were stacked against us. With only a couple minutes to go, I suddenly had an idea.

"Decem, do we still have those vortex torpedoes?" I asked him.

He thought for a moment before nodding his head. "Yes ma'am. But I thought we were saving them for a special occasion."

"I believe this qualifies," I said. "Tell the gunners to load them all in some tubes and to target the most opportune places on the enemy ship. When I give the signal, have them fire. We will only get one chance at this, and we can't miss."

Decem was smiling at this point, having understood the plan. He quickly relayed the order and by the time the timer ticked down to zero, the torpedoes were loaded and ready.

As soon as our timer hit zero, the vox officer spoke up. "The other captain is one the vox."

"Put him on the speakers," I ordered. The vox officer nodded and hit a switch. The voice of Captain Miike resonated throughout the bridge.

"This is Captain Miike. Your time is up. Have you made a decision?"

I smiled as I spoke. "Yes, we have."

"And?" the voice was dripping with sarcasm, audible even over the static of the connection.

"And I speak for my entire crew when we unanimously tell you to go frak yourself." I gestured and the vox link was severed. "Decem?" I turned to the captain.

"Fire all tubes and batteries," he shouted. The crew let out a cheer and the ship shuddered as our weapons fired everything. I watched on the viewscreen as our lance battery lit up and fired, the bright streak hitting the frigate on its nose, bloodying it so to speak. The trails of our torpedoes could be seen heading towards the frigate as well.

Miike was no slouch though, and his ship was quick to respond. Its own prow batteries opened up, raking lance fire along our ship and sending out torpedoes of his own. As I watched, his point-defense turrets opened up, swatting our torpedoes down. Some torpedoes got through and impacted the frigate, explosions tracing along the prow and sides.

I kept one eye on the holo though, which showed the position of the special gifts I had sent Miike. The vortex torpedoes were ancient technology, left over from the Golden Age of the Imperium. They were exceedingly rare and each one cost a small fortune. Unlike regular torpedoes which used explosives combined with the torpedoes plasma reactor to simply blow up, vortex torpedoes contained a device that imploded on impact, creating a Warp singularity which literally shredded a target.

I had sent three of them at the frigate.

Each one made it past the point-defense turrets, which were only stopping half of the incoming torpedoes, and impacted its target. The result was immediate. Each torpedo was targeted at a vital location. One at the engines, one at the bridge, and one at the plasma generator.

No sooner had the first one hit, than an entire section of the frigate simply vanished in a swirl of red light. Since the bridge was in front, that torpedo hit first. I felt sorry at having to do this, but we needed to escape, and this was the only way. The entire bridge vanished, along with Miike and his entire bridge crew. Then the stern of the ship vanished as well, taking most of the engines with it. The third and final torpedo impacted the topside of the ship where the plasma generator would be located closest to. With a final swirl of red, a top part of the frigate vanished, and plasma started leaking out into space.

The crew of _The Cordelia Rose_ let out another cheer as the frigate died. While I was happy to have won the battle and survived, I was saddened by the loss of life required to bring about this victory. Miike and the crewmen aboard his ship did not deserve to die. Quintessa and the soldiers with her did not need to die. Liliy did not need to die.

I swore then that I was going to have very strong words with the man the next time I saw him. I was mad at him for having thrown me into this situation, and at having gotten so many innocent people caught up in the middle of this. He said that his mission benefitted all Mankind, but did so many people have to die to accomplish it?

I turned to Decem. "Captain, take us away from here. Take us into the warp."

"Do you have a destination?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing specific. Somewhere we can hide. I would keep this from the rest of the crew, but we are now fugitives from the Imperium." He nodded his head, most likely having guessed as much now, especially after having been fired upon and destroying an Inquisitor's ship and a Navy frigate. "I will tell you why soon, you deserve to know. I can tell you that I have not fallen to Chaos, nor am I a traitor. I am still myself and of sound mind. Our path is simply not the one of the Imperium for now."

He nodded again. "Yes ma'am." I could sense a lot in those two little words. Anger mostly, anger at having to engage loyal members of the Imperium, at having to kill them, and anger at me for not telling him this earlier. I felt myself shrink under his gaze like a schola juvie caught by an instructor defacing a wall. I knew I was going to have to tell Decem sooner or later, I just never expected this to happen and figured I could tell him after I knew more information from the man.

I turned and left the bridge then, walking slowly. The alarms and klaxons had ceased, and the armsmen were no longer at the bulkhead doors. I was alone as I trudged through the hallways and stairs, heading towards where I figured my friends would be.

I was feeling a mixture of emotions now. We were safe and soon we would be in the warp, on our way to whatever safe haven Decem saw fit. Yet the cost of our escape had been steep. Not only had we been forced to kill an Inquisitor, but we had destroyed a Navy frigate as well. Once the plasma reactor had been breached, the odds of anyone surviving on board were slim. One of our own, a friend and companion, had given her life to see us through this. As I walked, I could only think one thought. Was it all worth it? Was what the man promised us worth this?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was sometime later, after our ship had translated into the warp, that I was sitting in the lounge reserved for the operatives and me. All the rest of my friends and crew was in the room as well, although no one delt much like talking. Spirits were low and occasionally, someone would look up and around, almost as if expecting Liliy to come bursting into the room and say something which would cheer everyone up. While it was true that we found her youth and exuberance to be annoying at times, she was still one of us and a dear friend to all. She always had some quip or quote to bring a smile to a person's face when they were feeling down. I'm still not sure whether she did this on purpose, or if it was accidental and just a byproduct of her youth.

It seemed like Liliy's death had brought home the truth of what we were now engaged in. At first, meeting the man and listening to his story, it was strange. To find out the truth about The Emperor, about his scheming and machinations behind the scenes, it was painful to listen to, but easy to accept once the proof was provided. And to listen to his true reason for contacting me, about the mission he had which would save Mankind, I almost felt a sort of perverse joy in that. A part of me was smugly happy at being able to break away like this, to secretly plot behind the back of the Inquisition. I almost felt like a little girl with a secret club.

Now though, this whole experience with Quintessa and the attack on our home brought everything crashing down. I no longer felt smug or happy about this. I was questioning whether I had made the correct choice. A colleague, someone I almost considered a friend, had died on my order. An entire Navy frigate was gone with its crew. And one of my own, someone I did consider a friend, perhaps even a daughter of sorts, was dead. Dead because I had made a choice to help someone.

As I looked around, I could not help but wonder who in this room was here because they wanted to be, and who was with my simply out of loyalty. I know I had offered everyone a choice, but they were each loyal to me and might have chosen to stay because of that. I was still lost in my thoughts when I felt a hand land on my shoulder. I looked up to see Trelli standing behind the chair I was sitting in. He had a sad smile on his face as he looked down at me.

"Don't do that," he said, his voice steady and even.

I gave him a puzzled look. "Do what?"

"Blame yourself."

"I'm not…" I started to say.

"Yes, you are," he cut me off. "I can tell you are." I gave him another puzzled look, but before I could ask the question, he answered it. "Arianna, I have been by your side for far longer that I would care to admit. I have crawled through mud, blood, and shit piles higher than my eyebrows and fought in some of the nastiest hellholes imaginable. In that time, I would like to think that I have gotten to know you pretty well. I can tell what you are thinking, and I'm telling you to not do it."

I pondered on what he had said. It was true that he had been with me the longest out of everyone, and in that time we had done some unimaginable things together. We had gotten to know each other very well, to know things about each other that no one else knows. It was true also that he was probably able to tell what I was thinking right about now.

"I can't help it," I told him. "I worry that I did the wrong thing by agreeing to help the man. I worry that I'm dragging you and everyone else into this mess with me. I worry that I caused Liliy's death." I opened myself up to Trelli then, something that I had almost never done. As an Inquisitor, I was used to keeping my emotions close to my chest, lest they be used against me somehow. Opening up to someone was a foreign concept, one that I had never done before. Yet here and now, it seemed appropriate to me. I felt as if I could trust Trelli, after everything we had been through.

He lifted his hand off of my shoulder and came around the chair. He grabbed another chair and dragged it over to sit across from me. He sat down with a smile on his face, one that was no longer sad looking. "You know, I can remember a night not so long ago when you and I talked about this very same thing, although I remember it being the other way around."

I thought back to that night, when Trelli had fallen asleep in my cabin. The memory was enough to bring a sliver of a smile to my face. "Ah," Trelli said. "There we go, a smile. It's tiny, but I'll take it."

My smile widened a bit at his words. "Now then, about what you asked," he said. "Did you make the right decision? I've said it before and I will say it again, I don't know. No one in this room knows. But we have chosen our path, and now, for better or worse, we must stick with it. We are committed to seeing this through. You must have known from the beginning that something like this could happen, that we could be found out by someone and would have to defend ourselves. You must have known that people would die over this. If we chose not to follow the man and he ended up being correct, then many people would die, perhaps all of humanity. Yet we chose to follow him and see what lay beyond. Hopefully, history will prove us to be correct."

He paused his speech to reach out and grab my hand, holding it in his. His large hand completely engulfed mine, yet there was a gentleness behind it. "Now I can only speak for myself, but I believe that I'm right when I say that each of us here joined you of our own accord. We each knew the risks and decided to take them anyway. We are all here by choice, not because you are dragging us along. Trust me on that one. If one of us did not want to be here, we would have taken the first transport away from Hollow."

His face lost its smile then. "As for Liliy, she knew the risks as well. I know that we thought she was a coward, but it seems we were wrong. She sacrificed herself to give us the opportunity to escape and continue with the plan. I say then that we not let her sacrifice be in vain. If you give up now, then Liliy died for nothing."

His face lit up then. "I've got an idea, be right back." He dropped my hand then and stood up, almost running down the hall leading to our rooms. I was curious what he was up to, but decided that following him would be more effort than it was worth.

Fortunately, I did not have to wait long before he came back, carrying a bottle tucked under one arm and some glasses in his hands. He came into the room and set the glasses down in a circle before delicately holding the bottle. His rapid exit and entrance had been enough to grab the attention of the others, who made their way over, curious as to what he was planning.

The bottle was a large one, with a label on it that I could not see. It was filled with a brown liquid. Carefully Trelli held the bottle, looking at the label. Hecuter seemed to have an idea of what it was because he gasped. "Surely that's not…" he trailed off.

"You're damn right it is," Trelli said proudly. He turned the bottle so we could all see the label. I could not help but let out a small gasp myself. The bottle was filled with amasec, not that big of a surprise. What was surprising was that it was a bottle of amasec from the agri-world of Sirenia, considered to be the foremost producer of the beverage in the galaxy. Sirenia amasec, even the basic variety, was highly sought after and prized. What Trelli was holding was a fifty year old bottle of the finest amasec in the galaxy, high quality Sirenia amasec.

"Sweet Emperor," I exclaimed. "Where did you get that? And where have you been keeping it?"

Trelli smiled. "You remember that raid we did a long time ago on that pirate base in the asteroid field outside Perlesque?" I nodded my head. "Well, while I was searching the captain's room, I might have stumbled across this bottle here, which might then have subsequently vanished and never logged as evidence."

I shook my head. That raid had been a chaotic one. We were supposed to have the element of surprise, but the pirates had been tipped off and by the time we got there, their entire fleet was waiting for us. Our assault on the actual asteroid base was a hard fought slog. I was not sure when Trelli had the time to search the captain's room, much less smuggle that bottle out.

"As for where I've been keeping it, well let's just say that I keep this thing better than I do my explosives, and you know how much I love those." I smiled at him, a genuine one this time. I did know how much he loved explosives. Yet that bottle in his hand was worth a king's ransom.

As we all watched in various states ranging from amusement to horror, Trelli used his thumb to break the seal on the bottle and open it up. He moved the bottle under his nose and inhaled. "Ah," he exclaimed. "Now that is a good bottle."

He poured a small amount of the drink in each glass, and set the bottle on the table in the middle of the circle. He gestured for each of us to pick up a glass. I looked down and sure enough, he had brought just enough glasses for each person, plus one extra. I picked up the glass set in front of me and held it.

As soon as everyone, even Xandria, held a glass, Trelli spoke again. "To Liliy," he intoned, raising the glass. "May she never be forgotten." I repeated his words, raising my glass high. I could hear the others around me saying the same. As one then, we each drank from our glass, even Xandria, who I was certain that until then she had never drank alcohol before. Yet now she swallowed her drink with everyone else, although the look on her face made me think she would never be drinking amasec again.

As the warm liquid ran down my throat, I savored the taste. I had never had amasec this good before. The drink was like a fire in my throat, and the taste was beyond comparison. When my glass was empty, I set it down on the table with a thunk. There were other thunks as everyone else set theirs down. Within moments, all the glasses were back on the table and only one of them still had liquid in it, the one set aside for Liliy.

The room was silent again, but unlike previously, this was not a silence filled with sorrow or regret. Instead, it was a silence filled with a sense of contentment. It was as if for each of us, simply paying tribute to Liliy made her passing easier to handle.

Trelli refilled each of the glasses and again we raised them. There was an awkward moment as no one knew what to toast to next. Then a voice spoke up. "To the future."

I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. I could see the others looking as well, confusion on their faces. No one recognized the voice. Suddenly, inspiration hit me and I turned, to stare open-mouthed at Xandria. She had removed her hood in order to drink, and while her face betrayed no emotion, she was the only explanation I could think of for the mysterious voice.

Xandria raised her glass again, the movement bringing attention to her. "To the future," she said. At that point my mouth was not the only one open.

"Xandria…" I said, unsure of what to think. For decades, she had been with me and my team. And in that time I had never heard her speak, not once. Not even a sound the times she had been injured. I knew why of course, because she had taken on a personal quest when she left her cult, and was forbidden from speaking until she had completed her quest. Yet now, for the first time, I heard her speak.

Confusion was written across the faces of everyone in the room, except Xandria. Yet when she jiggled her glass, we all managed to recover enough to mumble out something and drink.

After setting down our glasses, we all went right back to staring at Xandria. Her face still betrayed no emotion though. Of course it was Hecuter who broke the silence. "You can speak?" he asked, earning him a sharp look from Aki, which he ignored.

Xandria nodded her head. "Yes, I have completed my quest."

"What was your quest?" Mordecai asked. I could tell he wanted to know so he could write it down. I knew he was keeping notes on all of us, about ourselves and the things we did.

"To make a friend, then lose it."

Her voice, which was soft and light, spoke the answer. When no further explanation was forthcoming, I was quite prepared to let the matter drop. It was a hard time for all of us and I did not want to make matters worse by hounding Xandria so soon. Yet others did not share my thoughts.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Mordecai.

I glared at the old man, who seemed thoroughly nonplussed by it. "Growing up, we have no friends. Emotion is beaten and bled out of you. We are taught that those around us are either to die for us, or we for them. Getting to know someone is pointless. Yet I saw people in the galaxy on training missions, people who had others around them who were happy with each other. I did not believe the leaders when they said those things. When I left to go to you, I resolved to make a friend, at least one, before I came back, to find happiness. Yet because of the way I was raised, I also resolved that I would have to lose at least one friend as well, because you can never truly know something until you have lost it. In the passing of Liliy, my quest is complete."

Her explanation caught us all off guard. I knew more than most people about how Death Cults work, but even I did not know what their training was like. I knew it had to be harsh and brutal, and that most trainees never survived it, but just those few sentences gave more insight into the way of life of a death cultist than any text or report. I considered asking her about her early life, and the training, but decided not to.

Mordecai looked ready to ask more questions, but I cut him off with a warning look. "I'm glad that you made a friend Xandria," I said. "And we are all saddened to see her go." Xandria nodded at me. Then something else occurred to me. When a death cultist fulfills their quest, they are bound to return to their home and remain there, as new leaders and teachers of the next generation. "So does this mean that you are leaving us now?" I asked her.

For perhaps the first time ever, Xandria showed an emotion. She smiled. "No. I know that my suty tells me that I should leave you at our next port, but I cannot. What we have started here is something that I could never leave." She paused for a moment. "Besides, I could never leave my friends to go off without me."

Her statement hung in the air a moment, suspended between everyone. It was Aki who grasped its meaning first. "So does this mean…?"

"Yes," Xandria said. "I have made more than one friend."

That brought smiles to the faces of everyone in the room. We all looked at each other, secure in the knowledge that we were together until the end, through thick and thin and whatever may be ahead of us.

Trelli grabbed the bottle of amasec and poured a healthy measure into each empty glass. "This calls for another toast then," he said, grinning like a fool.

Everyone grabbed their glass again and raised it up. "To friendship, may we ever have it as our constant companion," I said.

Together we drank from the glasses, even Xandria. Looking down, the amasec bottle was still half full. I set my glass down once more and spoke to the group. "We have chosen a difficult path, one that we must tread lightly upon. Yet now we are committed to our path, whatever it may bring us. One of our own has fallen, never to get up. Yet still we must carry on. Tonight is for remembrance, but tomorrow is a new day where we shall stride onwards and confront the future head on, weapons drawn and telling it to give us its worst. We will overcome whatever happens, and we will be stronger for it."

The mood in the room had been lifted, and I knew that despite the recent tragedy, we were each ready to face what came next. I looked each of my crew, my friends, in the eye, one at a time. "Tonight, we remember. I expect each of you to be at dinner exactly on time. And Trelli, bring the rest of that bottle with you."

His eyes lit up with a twinkle. "Yes ma'am," he said, giving a mocking salute.

I nodded and turned around to leave. "Where are you going Arianna?" asked Aki.

I turned my head, looking over my shoulder. "I said that tonight is for remembering and tomorrow is a new day, so I go to inform the Captain of why we were attacked, and what is to come."

The diminutive woman nodded her head in understanding. "We will see you at dinner then."

I nodded and turned to leave, walking out of the lounge and back through the hallways and stairways to the bridge, where I knew I would find Decem. I moved much quicker than I had several hours before, when right after the battle I had been depressed and lost in my thoughts. I was not looking forward to what was coming, Decem was a staunchly loyal man who might have trouble going along with my plan. Yet I had promised him an explanation, and I kept my promises.

I found the man right where I expected him to be, in his cabin just off the bridge. I knocked on the door and received a gruff "Come in," in response. I opened the door to find the old Navy man seated in a chair behind his desk, a datapad in one hand and a glass of amasec in the other. He looked up and saw me entering. Without a word he gestured to the chairs on the other side of his desk.

I crossed the room and took a seat. He offered to pour me a glass and not wanting to be rude, I accepted.

He handed me the glass and then steepled his fingers, leaning his elbows on the desk and gazing over his hands at me. He looked for all the galaxy like a principal in a schola waiting for an excuse from a student on why she was late to class. "So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked. "I've been patient lately with your actions, letting prisoners roam my ship and all, but after this morning, I expect answers."

I met his gaze with my own, refusing to be cowed. "And you shall have them." I sipped from the glass, although compared to the amasec I had just had in the lounge, this was nowhere near as good. I set the glass on his desk and spoke again.

"Information has come my way, information that at first I found difficult to believe. Yet I was shown proof that this was true. This information has caused my path to become different from that of the Imperium." I could see the look in his eyes. "This path is also different from Chaos, or anything else. It is a path separate in and of itself. It is because I am on this path that we were attacked and had to flee, that we now have to seek shelter somewhere that we cannot be discovered."

My explanation seemed to do little to assuage him. "I warn you," I continued. "I can give you the information that I have, but knowing it comes with a steep price. One that you might regret having to pay."

He continued to gaze down at me from his seat. "If I am going to be helping you on this path of yours, I think I deserve to know everything."

I nodded my head. "That you do." I was worried that he was going to say that. There were some things I could expect Decem to accept on blind faith and loyalty, but something like the killing of his fellow Navy personnel was not one of them. If he did not like what I was going to tell him, I knew that he would jump ship as soon as we hit anchor at a starport outside Imperial control. And if he left, then so to would most of the crew. Then I would be left with the task of finding another captain and crew outside of the Imperium, something I was not looking forward to doing, ever.

I drew in a deep breath. "This all began several weeks ago, on Lixion. There we captured that man, the one purported to be the leader of a Chaos cult. As you recall, we brought him aboard in chains and held him in a holding cell. Yet during my interrogation of the man, he revealed information to me. Information that I refused to believe until he provided proof." I paused one more time. "Are you absolutely sure you want to hear this. Once I tell you, there is no going back."

His only response was to nod at me. "Alright, but you've been warned." I took in another deep breath. "That man is the older brother to The Emperor, and he revealed to me the Emperor's schemes and plans, taking place over millennia, to move the galaxy to where it is now." If I expected Decem to be surprised, I was sorely mistaken. His simply raised a single eyebrow. "The man is extraordinary. I shot him in the head and Xandria plunged her sword through his heart, yet he had not a scratch on him. Indeed, the bullet hole in his head vanished before my very eyes. He can create portals through the warp, and he took myself, Xandria, and Aki to a room, filled with books and information. It was there he gave us the proof behind his words. It was also there that he laid out the path that I am now on. He has knowledge of a threat which threatens all of Mankind such that we will become extinct. He has asked for my help in solving this threat. I know not what the threat is, or what part I will play in its ending, only that it must be done."

I finished speaking and looked across the desk at the captain. He sat unmoving for a moment before he un-steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair. "You say that he offered proof on all of this?" he asked.

I nodded my head. "Yes, he provided proof of what the Emperor really is."

"I want to see this proof."

I sighed. "Unfortunately, when he left us he took the proof with him, but he will be back. When we got to Hollow, he told us that it would take him a week to finish the preparations, and after that time he would return to tell us what was going to happen next."

Decem continued to lean back in his chair and look at me. I could tell that he was thinking something, just not what it was. I sat and waited, waited for what his response would, for whether he would tell me to frak myself and jump ship, or whether he was willing to believe what I had to say.

It was only after long minutes that he spoke again. "You have been good to me. You saved my life all those years ago from the raiders. You took me in, gave me a ship to command, a crew to watch over, and you gave me a purpose again in my life. For all those things I have been forever grateful, and was willing to follow you wherever you went." I felt my heart sink at his use of the word 'was.' "And now you bring this upon me, upon my ship. You make accusations against the Emperor and lead me into battle against His servants." His words were not laced with anger, or any emotion I could detect. He was simply speaking. "Arianna," he said, surprising me by using my name. "You know that I am willing to take a lot of things from you on faith, but this is too much. If I am to continue with you on this path, I require three things."

I nodded my head. I needed Decem, and so was willing to make concessions if it meant he stuck around. "The first," he said. "Is that I want full disclosure of everything you know, which includes seeing this proof you are talking about. Second, I want to meet this man and speak with him. I want to hear what he has to say from his own mouth. And third, I want to be present when he tells you the mission, and also present in any planning talks, even if my help is not needed in whatever you are planning."

I thought about it for a moment before nodding my head again. "Those are all reasonable. Very well, I agree."

He held out his hand and I grasped it in mine, shaking his hand to seal the deal. "Although," he said as we shook. "If I do not like what is said, or if I don't believe it, then I will leave. I will not report you to the authorities, you have earned that from me, but I will not take part in whatever you are planning. You can find a new captain then."

"Fair enough," I told him. I stood up then, preparing to leave his cabin. "With the full disclosure, I shall tell you everything I know tomorrow, there is simply not enough time left in the day today for that. And I shall let you know as soon as the man appears."

He nodded his head. "Very well then. We are currently headed for a starport on the fringes of Imperial space. We should be safe there briefly, although we will have to move on soon after. It will take us about two weeks to get there. If I am not satisfied by the time we arrive, I'm leaving."

With that I was dismissed from his cabin. I walked out and into the hallway, closing the bulkhead door behind me. It was with a heavy heart and weary steps that I made my way back to the lounge area, only to find it empty. I was surprised to see that even Trelli had left, and taken his bottle with him. There were a few rings of moisture on the table where the glasses were, but other than that there was no sign anyone had been in the room.

I will admit to a certain curiosity as to where everyone had vanished off to. I decided to try and track down whoever I could. I started my search heading down to where our rooms were, yet not a soul was there. I knocked on each door, each time receiving no response.

Puzzled, I checked the armory and the exercise room, thinking that perhaps Trelli had decided everyone needed some physical exercise to get their minds off of things. Yet again each room was empty, with only my echoing voice to answer my calls.

I was about ready to use the comm system to figure out where everyone was when I found them, or rather heard them. I was walking past the mess hall when I heard voices coming from within. At first I figured it was some of the ship's crew eating, when I managed to pick out Aki's voice from the pack. I was not sure what she said, but what ding ring out clear was the sound of flesh striking flesh, a resounding slap.

I rushed forward and ran into the mess hall to find a comical sight. Aki was standing next to one of the tables, a cooking knife in her hand, brandishing it at a stunned looking Trelli, who was holding his left hand in his right, rubbing the back of it. The others were surrounding the two of them, all with various degrees of mirth on their faces.

As I moved closer, I began to pick out the words that Aki was saying. It seemed that she had caught Trelli attempting to sneak a taste of the meal Aki was setting on the table, and so she had slapped him as hard as she could (which was quite hard, surprisingly) on the hand. It was when I joined the group that she was threatening to use the knife to remove a very dear part of his body. I believe her exact words was something along the lines of, "And so help me I will chop of your manhood and toss it out an airlock. And no, I don't give a damn what Arianna will do to me if I do that."

I quietly joined the group, only Xandria noticing my presence, and listened as the short, angry woman cowed a man more than twice her size and three times her mass. A man who could pick her up and break her like a twig if he so chose to. Yet in a strange reversal, she literally had him up against a wall.

As soon as Aki started to wave the knife around, almost giving Mordecai an impromptu haircut, that I decided to step in. I grabbed the wrist holding the knife and gave a pressure point a squeeze. Her hand open involuntarily, allowing me to grab the knife as it fell.

Aki's tirade stopped and now she too held a one hand in another, rubbing it. She turned to see me now holding the knife. "There will be no removing of body parts on this ship unless I or the Doc does it," I said. I flipped the knife around and handed it back to Aki, who nodded and took it, before going back to the kitchen.

I moved over to Trelli and offered him a hand. He took it and I led him over to an empty seat at the table, which already had some odd multicolored dish sitting on it. Once he was seated at my insistence, her told me, "Thanks for intervening, I thought she might actually follow through on her threat."

I smiled at him. "So did I, why do you think I stepped in?"

He joined me in smiling, at least for a moment. "Uh, Arianna, we do have an audience you know?" he pointed out.

I turned around to find the rest of the crew still standing there, now watching us with amusement. I shooed them away. "Go away, pesky creatures. Don't you have something better to be doing?"

Hecuter shook his head. "No, we don't."

Ailish, who had so far been very quiet, spoke up. "You're the one who told us to be at dinner on time, and here we are."

I glanced up at a chrono on the wall, which did indeed say that I was now dinner time. I was surprised, the conversation with Decem must have taken far longer that I thought. "So it is," I said.

It was only minutes later that a series of interesting dishes were set up on the table and we were all gathered around it. I stared at the food, each dish being more odd than the last one. "Aki, I hate to criticize…"

"So don't," she put in.

"…But what exactly have you made?" I finished my question.

She turned in her chair to look at me. "Taste it and find out," was all she said. I could see the hesitant looks of everyone else at the table. Besides Aki, no one knew what we were being served. The more I looked at it, the more it seemed like something that…

It was then I understood the reason behind the meal. As comprehension dawned, it must have shown on my face since Aki smiled. "Now you get it," she said quietly.

I could still see confused looks around me, except for Mordecai, who most likely knew immediately what it was and was only hesitant about the taste. "Think about it for a second," I told the table. "Where else have we seen meals like this?"

I could see them looking thoughtful when Ailish spoke up. "Well, really only on nights when…" as she trailed off, I knew she got it. "Oh Aki, you didn't!" Aki only nodded her head. Ailish, who was sitting next to her, gave her a hug. "Thank you."

Trelli and Hecuter still looked confused, so I decided to let them know why this meal was special. "This meal, it is just like the ones that Liliy used to cook for us." Finally, I could see the understanding enter the faces of the two men.

It was after that little guessing game that we all dug into the food with gusto. Normally when Liliy cooked, she just threw together random things and called it good. Aki had done the same thing, although she had taken the time to pick things that worked well with each other, so it tasted great.

The meal was full of laughter and talking as we reminisced about our fallen friend. Stories were shared of the antics our pilot got herself up to, and the situations she had gotten us out of. Laughter and sorrow were equal companions at our table that meal.

Once the dessert of sticky sweetbuns was finished, Liliy's favorite food, we settled into a companionable silence. To some, it may seem strange that we could laugh and joke so shortly after someone's death, yet to us, it was only natural. We all knew that it was what Liliy would have wanted. She would never have wanted us to sit around and mope or grieve. I believe that if she could, she would tell a joke or make fun of someone to lighten the mood.

Yet our newfound companionship was not to last. No sooner had we all started to break out the second half of Trelli's amasec, then an unexpected visitor appeared in our midst. With nary a sound, the man, the one who had started us on our current path, was suddenly standing next to me at the table.

It is with great effort that I admit to being startled. I had a glass of the precious drink in one hand, nursing it slowly this time, when he appeared. I jumped and nearly dropped the glass. I had heard someone say once that there is a special place in the warp reserved for people who waste good amasec. I nearly consigned myself to that place, but managed to hold on to the glass without spilling a drop.

Everyone else's reactions were about the same, except for Xandria who did not even blink. Once we had calmed down though, the reactions to his presence were mixed.

"You!"

"He's here?"

"Sweet Emperor!"

"Frak!"

The man ignored all of the things being said and faced me. "We have little time, you must come with me now." A shimmering portal opened next to me, beckoning.

"What is this about?" I asked, refusing to go anywhere until I knew at least that much.

"The mission. Now is when you learn what it's all about."

I stood up then and was about to go through the portal when something occurred to me. I remembered the things that I had promised Decem, and his presence at the mission briefing was one of them.

"Wait!" I said. The man, who thankfully was still sitting there, looked at me.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I made a promise to the captain of this ship that he would be present for this. I need you to go to him and open another portal as soon as I go through here." The man simply nodded his head in agreement.

I took one last look around the table, seeing what was on everyone's faces. Some people showed anger, directed at the man. Others were anticipating what was to come. Others still were simply stoic, showing nothing.

I grabbed the bottle of amasec and topped off my glass, picking it up and taking it with me through the portal. Before stepping through, I gave the others a solemn nod.

On the other side of the portal was a single room, with a single piece of furniture in it. It was a long, narrow table. I had appeared towards one end. I set down my glass and waited.

Less than a minute later, a portal opened up next to me. I waited patiently for a moment, yet when no one stepped through, I stuck my head through the portal.

My head appeared in Decem's cabin, where I could see the older man inspecting the portal as if he did not know what to make of it. When my head popped out, he startled backwards. "Dear Emperor," he exclaimed.

"No time to explain Decem, just get the hell in here." To make sure he followed, I reached out a hand grabbed his arm, literally pulling him through the portal with me.

Once on the other side, he looked around, taking in the room and the table. "What just happened?" he asked, confusion evident on his face.

"That, was the man that I was talking about, the brother of the Emperor. He can create portals that will dump you in another location. You just walked through one. He appeared in the mess hall only minutes ago, and told me that the mission briefing was about to begin. I remembered my promise to you, so I told him to get you."

Ever a stoic man, the confusion passed from Decem and his face took on its usual look of impassiveness. "I see," was all he said.

Together we waited in silence for what seemed like minutes, yet for all we know could have been hours. The room had no sense of time, and my chrono on my wrist was spinning backwards. Neither of us tried to move beyond where we had started standing. I wanted to be ready for when the man appeared again.

Suddenly, across from us, another portal opened. For a few seconds, nothing came through, then a figure appeared. The figure was tall, easily over two and a half meters, possibly up to three. It was clad from head to toe in ceramite power armor, colored a dark blue, almost the color of night. I recognized it at once as a set of Space Marine power armor.

I sighed, thinking that the man had somehow convinced a Space Marine chapter to join him, when something about the armor caught my attention. All of the usual icons to the Emperor, the prayer scrolls, they were all missing. The scrolls were gone and the icons had been filed down.

With a start, I realized that the figure across from me was not a Space Marine, but a Chaos Space Marine, hated enemy of Mankind. Despite its head being covered with a helmet, the helmet having crude horns attached to it, I could tell that the thing was looking at me. I could feel its gaze as it ran me over with its eyes (and probably whatever sensors were in the armor as well).

"Inquisitor," the thing rasped, its voice a mix between rocks tumbling down a cliff and metal grating on metal.

"Chaos," I said.

Our stare-down lasted another half a second before we both said simultaneously, "I've been betrayed," and reaching for our weapons. I pulled out my bolt pistol and aimed it at the thing as it pulled out a chainsword as big as I was.

As I pulled the trigger, hoping to get a lucky shot off before the thing swiped me in half, the armored giant leapt at me, a piercing howl escaping its helmet.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The results of my shot against the Chaos giant were surprising, but not in the way that I had hoped for. As its howl pierced my bones, I pulled the trigger on my pistol, hoping against all odds that the bullet would find a weak point in the armor and at least slow the creature down enough for myself and Decem to get away. The pistol went off, but the round never hit the figure. Nor did the large chainsword bisect me as was its wielder's intent.

Instead, the bolt round impacted the air in front of me, detonating and spraying shrapnel around. Yet the shrapnel never left a small, contained area. Simultaneously, the chainsword also impacted against some invisible barrier, bouncing off with enough force to send the leaping Marine stumbling backwards.

This setback did little to deter the Chaos Marine though, and again it tried to swing the sword, meeting with the same results. Having learned my lesson when a piece of bolt shrapnel scratched my cheek, drawing a thin line of blood, I had not fired a second shot. I watched the power armor clad figure in front of me swing its weapon and bounced off a shield a couple times before it too calmed down.

Leaning forward, I reached out my hand, cautiously, and after a moment, felt resistance, almost like poking a wall. I placed my entire palm on the surface and pushed, finding myself unable to break through. Curious, I placed both hands on the invisible wall and shoved even harder, with the same results.

I could see the Chaos Marine watching me intently. We both came to the same conclusion that while we could see each other and hear each other, we could not touch or interact physically with each other.

Now that our fight was reduced to staring at each other, I felt safe enough to at least see how Decem was doing. Keeping one eye on the armored giant, I turned and saw that Decem was exploring our side of the table. He reported to me that the barrier was on either side of us as well as in front and behind us. Essentially, we were trapped in a small area with no way out.

No sooner had we figured this out, and by proxy the figure across from us by listening in, then a portal opened up next to us. Decem quickly assured me that the portal was beyond our area, so I stood back and watched, waiting to see what would come out of this portal.

I did not have to wait long before and lithe and graceful creature stepped out. The figure was slightly taller than an average human and wearing a long robe. Strapped to its side were a curved blade and a pistol I recognized as a shuriken pistol.

The Eldar moved gracefully up to the table, the portal closing behind it, before taking note of its surroundings. It was only when the Eldar turned and looked at me that I noticed it was a she. She looked me in the eyes for a moment before nodding her head. I could feel her tickling the back of my mind as she tried to read me. Using my own psyker powers, I batted her aside. If she was surprised that I was a psyker, she did not show it, instead facing the armored figure across the table.

I filed away the thought that psyker powers could make it through the barrier as well as sight and sound. It seems that only physical objects could not pass through.

The Eldar reacted about the same way towards the Chaos Marine as it did to me. I would assume that she also tried reading it, but if she found anything, she said nothing. Seeing as to how she did not try and kill me as soon as she saw me, some part of me felt that I could perhaps trust this Eldar at least a bit more than the Chaos Marine. Then again, at least the Chaos Marine was overt about wanting to kill me. For all I knew, the Eldar would simply smile and nod before slipping her sword into my back. I was content to simply wait until the man reappeared and explained what was going on.

Some amount of time passed, and more portals opened and more people arrived, including another Eldar and an Ork. The second Eldar arrived just as quietly as the first, yet I could tell that there was a difference between them, as the first one tensed up when she saw him. The Ork on the other hand, simply let out an ear piercing "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" as soon as it stepped out of the portal and attempted to rush us all.

Predictably, this met with it bouncing back off of the barrier, and by then I did not even flinch. The Ork was not as smart as the Chaos Marine, and it continued to charge and then bounce off a number of times, each time letting out a grunt as it rebounded. Eventually though, it wised up and stopped trying to get at us, which was good. This Ork was a massive creature, easily the biggest thing in the room. Having fought Orks before, I knew that the bigger they were, the more power they commanded amongst Orks. Judging by the size of this one, we were looking at a very powerful Ork. Although since my specialty was in heretics and traitors, I was not well versed enough in Orks to figure out who specifically it was.

The spot at the end of the table closest to me was still empty, but I gauged that everyone was here who was going to be here besides the man. Going around the table, it was me, Eldar number one, the Ork at the far end across from the empty spot, Eldar number two, and then the Chaos Marine. No sooner had I began to wonder what we were waiting on, when the man appeared at the head of the table.

He looked around a moment, seeing all of us standing there. "Ah good," he said. "It looks like everyone is at least getting along."

The silence was thin after he spoke, with each person around the table all thinking the same thing. It was the Chaos Marine who simply spoke first. "Why are these others here?" it asked.

"All in good time," was all the man said on that. "If you just be patient, everything will be explained." I pondered for a moment on the intricacies of asking an Ork to be patient, yet it seemed as if this particular Ork at least grasped the concept, because it made no other moves.

"First off, I believe that introductions are in order. You all know who I am yet none of you know each other. If we are going to all be working together, then we at least need to know each other's names." The man gestured to me. "You go first."

"What?" I said. "Working together? You mean that in order to accomplish whatever crazy mission you have, I need to work with an agent of Chaos?"

Surprisingly, the Chaos Marine actually jumped to my defense. "As loathe as I am to admit it, I agree," it spoke. "I refuse to work with an Inquisitor, someone who hunts down my brothers."

Both Eldar said nothing, but based on the tension between them, they wanted to work with each other about as much as myself and the Chaos Marine did. The Ork most likely had no idea what was going on, judging by the thin trail of drool making its way down its lip, but for once it was quiet. I had expected it to jump right into an argument and attempt to drown everyone else out by yelling, which for Orks can get quite loud.

The man raised his arms and gestured for quiet. "As I said, everything will be explained in due time. To answer your question though, yes. You must work with each other. I will explain why after the introductions." He turned to look at me, glaring a bit.

Grinding my teeth, I bit out an introduction. "Inquisitor Arianna."

The man smiled. "See, that wasn't so hard." He gestured next to the Eldar next to me. "Your turn."

The Eldar seemed to accept this pointless and stupid introduction ceremony far better than I did, as she said her name casually. "I am Farseer Valentia, of craftworld Altaioc."

The man nodded, then looked pointedly at the Ork. I will admit that I was expecting confusion from the Ork, yet it narrowed its eyes and glared around the table. "Iz Boss 'EadPoppa, of de Gorgnutz." As usual, the Ork butchered Low Gothic, yet it was understandable, and it seemed to at least comprehend what was going on. I silently raised my estimate of the Ork.

The second Eldar spoke. "None may know my true name, but you may call me Vech."

All eyes in the room now went to the Chaos Marine. It was silent for a moment before letting out a snarl and raising its hands to its helmet. There was a hissing of air and the figure pulled off its helmet, revealing a bald, scarred head. The Chaos Marine's features were sharp, and he had a scar running from his forehead down over one eye and ending just below his chin. He had a look about him that said he could have once been a good looking man, but centuries of war had taken its toll.

He set his helmet down on the table. "I am Uriah, of the Night Lords 1st Company 3rd Claw."

The man nodded and then stared at me. I stared back at him, confused as to why he was staring at me, until I remembered that there was someone else with me. "Oh, right," I said. "This is Decem, the captain of my ship," I gestured to him. So far he had not said anything, although it could be attributed to shock. In my long career with the Inquisition, I had been thrown into situations where temporary alliances between people had to happen before, so this was not a first time situation for me. Decem, on the other hand, was brand new to all of this, and I think that the shock of it was getting to him.

"Good," the man said. "Now that we all know each other, we can get down to business." The man produced a datapad from somewhere and tapped at it. A small section of table slid back, revealing the emitter to a holo.

"I told each of you different things in order to get you here, so I will start from the beginning, so we are all on the same page." He tapped again on the datapad and the holo sprang to life, projecting a picture of a galaxy.

"Our galaxy is under threat." He paused for a moment and corrected himself. "Well, our galaxy has almost always been under threat, but by internal forces such as infighting." He looked pointedly between myself and Uriah before continuing. "Yet now it is facing its greatest threat ever, in the form of outside invaders."

The image changed to a picture of an alien. I quickly recognized it as a hormagaunt, the basic Tyranid life-form. I gave a silent congratulations to Mordecai for at least being partially correct, as far as I knew. The old man had proven once again that his intelligence and ability to connect things together were invaluable.

"Each of you knows these creatures by different names, but since we are all communicating in the human tongue, we shall refer to them in that tongue. Tyranids. Named such after the first planet they consumed after reaching this galaxy.

"Little is known about them, their motivations, their desires, even by me. Yet what I have been able to find out is disturbing." He paused again for a moment. I looked around and saw that the six of us around the table were all focused on the man, even the Ork, who seemed to be actually understanding what was going on, and keeping silent for once. I could only assume that he either recognized, or more likely, was shown the power of the man, and being an Ork, looked to the person with more power as a leader of sorts, at least unitl it could figure out a way to usurp that power for his own.

The man continued speaking. "I can say for certain that they are indeed from another galaxy, but which one I do not know. I can also say for certain that our galaxy is not the first they have visited. This is a species constantly on the move, always consuming whatever lies in their path. The more they consume, the stronger they become and the more of them there are."

Fixing each of us in turn with a gaze, the man paused. "You have each had experience with these creatures. You know how difficult they are to fight, how many of them they are. They have the sheer numbers to overrun most positions. They do not think tactically like others. If left to their own devices, they will consume and grow, consume and grow until there is nothing left in this galaxy, before moving on to the next one, and the next, and the next. They have done this before, and unless stopped, will do it again."

"So these Tyranid are why you have called us all together?" Vech asked.

The man nodded his head. "Yes. Although it does get a bit more specific than that."

'Eadpoppa let out a growl. "Dese puny Tyranidz are no threat to da Orkz. Weze fought dem before and beat dem. Theyz puny, like humiez." The Ork sent me a pointed look. I refused to take the bait and give him the satisfaction of baiting me.

"Indeed, each of you has fought the Tyranids before and won, yet how hard won were those battles? How many did you lose to scuttling hormagaunts, or to the biocannons of termagaunts? How many were trampled beneath a Carnifex? Eviscerated by a leaping warrior?" The only response was silence, even from 'Eadpoppa. I expected him to at least boast some more, yet he had enough intelligence to stay silent.

The man had a point though. Each victory against the Tyranids was a hard one. Losses higher than 75% were normal. Entire companies of Imperial Guard have been decimated in a victory. And they also had the annoying habit of popping up sometimes in random places that we were not able to predict. A hive fleet will be going one way and look as if it is heading along a certain route, but then a genestealer cult will pop up somewhere entirely new and the hive fleet will turn and head there. In short, they were difficult, if not impossible to predict, and they did indeed have the numbers to overrun the entire galaxy. For every hive fleet that the Ultramarines smashed (losing a good number of their entire chapter in the process), there were more out there.

I could tell that we were all thinking along the same lines, because everyone was silent. The man took this silence as his cue that we all agreed with him and continued his briefing. "I can tell that you are all agreeing with me, so I shall move on." He tapped the datapad and the image projected by the holo changed, this time displaying a view of the entire galaxy, with sections of it in red. I recognized the red sections as areas that the Tyranids had already been through. Large swaths of the galaxy were covered in red. With each of the planets there being stripped of life and left as dust balls floating around. Sure some planets had been saved, but for each one saved, two were overrun. This view of it really brought home just how massive of a threat these aliens were.

"This is our galaxy. As you can clearly see, the Tyranids are making their way through it. There are multiple hive fleets, with each one being very difficult to destroy, because if even a few ships make it from the battle, a Tyranid will evolve, become a new hive queen, and start to create a new hive fleet, to grow and replenish the lost numbers. To destroy a hive fleet, nothing less than total annihilation is required."

He turned his gaze towards me. "Humanity found this out the hard way when the Ultramarines defeated a hive fleet at Macragge, yet tendrils of it slipped away and plagued the galaxy for another century before finally being eradicated." I nodded my head, having studied that particular battle and aftermath before. There were records of it, sealed in the Inquistorial Archives, that I had gotten access to and studied. Even though I dealt with heretics and traitors, I needed to be versed on Tyranids, because there have been times when a suspected heretic cult turns out to instead be a genestealer nest.

"The layout of a hive fleet is fairly simple and not unlike what is found in most any other fleet." He motioned to the holo, which changed again and displayed a series of Tyranids. "You have your basic foot soldiers such as the Hormagaunts and Termagaunts, capable animals, but not capable of any higher function. Indeed, without leadership, they will attack each other as much as their enemy." He paused for a moment. "Then you have your leadership elements, the equivalent of Sergeants and the like, elements such as Warriors, who can exert control over the lesser creatures, organize them and direct them. You then move on up the ladder, with Lictors, Zoanthropes, etcetera.

"At the top of every hive fleet, the General, so to speak, is the hive queen. The single largest and most well defended of Tyranids. Yet it is this one which controls all others in the hive fleet. The one whose will is psychically projected by the likes of warriors into all others, the one whose will all Tyranids in the fleet obey. If that will is smashed, say by destroying the hive queen, then the entire fleet suffers from that loss of control. Movements become less coordinated, Tyranids turn against each other, the hive fleet will begin to destroy itself, and is an easy target for the attacking forces, at least for a little while. Eventually though, a smaller Tyranid, the highest ranking one remaining, will assume control of a section and will try to lead it away. Thus you get the splinter fleets, which will then roam the galaxy, and have the potential of becoming a brand new hive fleet on their own, as has happened before."

Again he paused and looked at each of us. For the most part, we all seemed to be following, but for me at least, none of this was anything new. And by the looks of comprehension mixed with boredom on the faces of the others around the table, it was the same for them. Of course it was 'Eadpoppa who broke the silence, releasing a very loud snarl which had me wanting to clasp my ears, but I refused to lose face in front of the others. "'Eadpoppa knowz all this. Youz brought uz here for a reazon, Iz want to knowz why," he demanded, in typical Ork speaking volume, which meant shouting.

The man let the Ork's anger wash over him and never even blinked. "I was just about to get there," he assured the large green creature across from him. This seemed to do little to make the Ork feel better, but at least he stayed quiet.

The man then continued speaking. "Now, I assume that pretty much everything I have told you is common knowledge to you." He got a round of nods from everyone. "I thought so. Then I have a question for you all. When a hive queen is destroyed, which has happened a few times in the past, and the Tyranids go, for lack of a better word, insane, without the queen's control, then what is it that reestablishes that control? The queen is dead and they do not start receiving psychic commands from another queen, and it takes time and biomass for a new queen to evolve, so then what is it that reestablishes control?"

The question was met with silence. I had no idea what the others were thinking, but I knew at least some of what the Inquisition theorized. The prevailing theory is that each Tyranid "controller" beast is genetically hard-coded with certain instructions, like how humans have instincts. Even a baby knows certain things, like to seek warmth or food. It is generally thought that the Tyranids are the same, with each "controller" having instructions on how to proceed in the wake of a hive queen's death. The period of chaos immediately following the destruction of a hive queen is attributed to shock value, like how armies can fall into disarray when the general is killed, before the lesser officers can take control. Almost like morale really.

All of this floated through my head quickly. I glanced around and saw similar looks of contemplation on the faces of everyone else, at least I thought 'Eadpoppa was contemplating, because an awful lot of drool was falling and he looked like he was straining. So either he was thinking or was otherwise straining against something else. I briefly wondered if he was trying to go to the bathroom, but quickly banished that thought before it could make me sick, or laugh.

The man looked around and nodded his head. "Good, it seems you are all thinking. Am I correct in assuming that each of your general answers will tend towards the phrase 'We don't know?'" I nodded my head, seeing Uriah doing the same. "I am sure that each of you has theories of course, but none of you know definitively." He said that as a statement, not a question.

"Are we to assume that you know?" asked Uriah.

The man shook his head. "You are not to assume anything. While my knowledge may be vast, not even I know everything. Indeed, I am learning new things every day. I do, however, have my own theory, and I actually have some proof to back it up." I heard a gasp coming from beside me. Decem, who had up until now been quiet, had finally let a sound escape him. I turned and could see his lips moving, but no sound was coming out. Not being terribly well versed on lip-reading, I could only guess on what he was saying. Yet since he did not speak out loud, I felt that it was a prayer to the Emperor.

I turned my attention back to the man. The air in the room crackled with tension, as everyone, even the Ork, wanted to know this information. "Now," he said, "I can only stress that this is my own personal theory, but I have reason to believe that it is true." He gestured again and the holo, which had been displaying various images of the Tyranids attacking various places and armies, changed, displaying a small planet floating in space.

It took me a moment, but I was able to realize that something was off about this planet. It was smaller than most planets, and even a lot of moons, unless the range of the pict was off. It also had protrusions which could at first be mistaken for mountains, yet the entire thing was a sickly green color, not unlike the color of the Tyranids. The more I looked at it, the less I thought it was a planet and the more I thought it was something else. I squinted my eyes and peered even closer at the image.

As soon as I knew what it was, I could not help but lean back and raise my eyebrows in surprise. I turned to the man and shot him a questioning glance. He seemed to read my mind and nodded his head, as if confirming what I thought.

The man pointed a finger to the image. "I was exploring a planet on the galaxy's edge, when I felt a psychic presence, a shadow in the warp. You all know that a shadow in the warp is caused by something large which blocks psykers from accessing that section of the warp. Fleets moving through the warp and other large things, such as warp storms, can cause a shadow. So having felt this shadow where I was, I was curious as to what was causing it. I felt that it was perhaps a warp storm taking effect, yet when I went to investigate, I will admit that I was surprised, which does not happen too often."

He paused and the image in the holo began to rotate, showing all of us the object from every angle. "I found this, along with a very sizable Tyranid fleet. Not as large as a hive fleet, but still large. After some investigation, I have come to a conclusion. This round object that you see here is actually a Tyranid ship, a large one. It is about the size of a small moon, and inside it is the Tyranids most elite forces, those creatures who have survived countless campaigns, who have centuries, millennia even of warfare experience. Yet more important, is what they are protecting. It is my belief that they are protecting the Tyranid overlord. A Tyranid so powerful, that it is the leader of the entire race. That is the being which controls the hive queens, who in turn control the lesser creatures. When a hive queen is destroyed, it is this overlord who reasserts control over a fleet, splitting it up and giving each one a chance for survival."

I was sure then that the look of surprise that everyone in the room had, was mirrored on my own face. Of all the theories bounced around in the Inquisition, that I had at least gotten wind of, this was one that was dismissed as improbable. The sheer size of such a creature made it all unlikely, yet to find that in may indeed actually exist. This is information that the Inquisition would literally kill for.

"This may seem like an obvious question," I heard Decem speak up for the first time, "But what does it mean then, this overlord? Are we here and you telling us this because you expect us to kill it? And what happens when we do?"

The man was quiet for a moment, letting the others digest the questions. "This means that, if I am correct, then this overlord is the controlling force behind all of the Tyranids. As for what happens if it dies, I can only guess, but it is my guess that the Tyranids will succumb to what happens when a hive queen dies, only it will be all of them. And if my other guess is correct, then without the overlord, there would be nothing to reassert control. The hive fleets will enter a state of berserk, tearing themselves apart, with what is left over being easier to defeat. As for whether you are gathered here to kill it, will that depends on all of you.

"You have all been gathered here yes, and I am telling you this information as well, but it is up to you what you do with it. None of you are being forced to do anything with this information. You are more than able to forget you heard anything and continue living your lives, or you can not agree to do anything here with each other and take this information back to your homes, the choice is yours. Yet it is my belief that the only way anyone is going to do anything is if we all work together. Separate you are each powerful, yet not powerful enough. Only together do I believe that we have the strength to defeat this menace to the galaxy."

He took a moment to fix each of us with a rather intimidating stare. The message was loud and clear. If we were to have any hope of doing anything with this information, we would need to work together. I exchanged a look with the Chaos Marine across from me, one that he returned. The look said that we hated each other. I personally was loathe to work with a Chaos Marine, or an Ork for that matter. I had formed temporary alliances with the Eldar before, but those generally quickly devolved into attempting to gain the upper hand on each other and promptly turning on each other as soon as our mutual objective was accomplished. I knew that an Eldar could generally be trusted to keep its word, it was how that word was kept which caused problems.

The stares going around the room were not lost on the man. "I can tell that none of you wish to work with each other, and that each of you has differences with the others, but I can tell you now, you must put all of that aside. The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance, to use a clichéd line."

The silence in the air was thick, as no one wanted to speak up first, least of all me. Finally though, the Eldar on my right, the Farseer Valentia, spoke up. "In my own readings of the skeins of fate, I have come across portents of doom so strong as to block out everything else. This galaxy is on the verge of a collapse from which it will not recover. Yet this entire time, the cause was lost to me, until now. It is my belief that this is the cause, this 'overlord' as you call it." She paused and glanced over at the other Eldar, who was looking at her with what I imagined to be contempt. "Despite my hatred of the fallen brethren, I am willing to see this through." She reached down and pulled out her curved wychblade and set it down on the table. "The skeins of fate demand it," she finished.

The other Eldar, Vech, scoffed. "The skeins of fate? What has reading those brought you? You are a weak race, thousands of years of wandering the galaxy in craftworlds has made you weak. We are the true members of the Eldar. We have nothing to fear from these Tyranids, they cannot reach us in Commoragh, and we are more than content to wait it out." I had had my suspicions about the other Eldar, but mentioning the Black City confirmed for me that he was indeed a Dark Eldar, a space pirate.

The man spoke then. "Indeed, that may be true, you might be safe in your city, assuming the Tyranid do not find a way in. But what happens when they are done wiping out this galaxy? Will you just sit in your city then? How long until you tear each other apart without the realspace raids, without anything but yourselves for company?"

Vech looked as if he was about to say something, but he shut his mouth quickly. I will be the first to admit that I am not very familiar with Eldar facial expressions, but even I could tell that he was thinking, and thinking hard. "I can save you some time," the man said. "You know that your city, indeed your species, lasts on the search for thrills, for adventure. Without the realspace raids, without fresh victims for the arenas, being stuck in the city, you will tear each other apart, and it will not take long either."

The Dark Eldar seemed on the verge of exploding with anger, but finally he snarled. "I am loathe to admit this, but you are correct. With no realspace to raid, with no one but ourselves around, we may do as you say. However, I still refuse to work with a weak race." His stare around the table made it clear that he thought we were all weak, even if the insult went right over the head of the Ork.

Valentia spoke up then. "Our races were once one and the same, before the Great Fall and the birth of the demonic one," she seemed to not want to say the Chaos god's name, which was fine by me. "Yes we now hate each other, we who were once brothers. You know as well as I do, brother," the word seemed to take a while to get out, and Valentia had a look on her face like she had just spit out something unpleasant, "That what this monkeigh says is true. I also know that while you may look upon us as a weaker version of yourselves, there are those among you who still ply the skeins of fate. Surely they have seen the same things, the same threats of doom." The look on Vech's face stated that it was true, even if he did not want to come out and say it. "For a portent to be so strong means that it is almost guaranteed to come true. If this is the only way to stop it, then is it not worth it to join up with even a 'weak' race?" The Eldar finished her speech and simply took to staring at the one across from her.

I could tell that Vech was struggling with something. It was my guess that he was debating over which was more important, his pride or his future. Finally, with a look that suggest he may throw up, if Eldar even do that, at any moment, her spoke. "Hurrr!" he growled. "You make a good point wych. Very well then, it causes me pain to do this, but I will stand with you. But call me brother again, and I will not hesitate to kill you," he shot at the Eldar Farseer. Valentia actually looked grateful at not ever having to say that again. Vech reached down and pulled out a short sword, almost like a kris, and set it on the table, same as the Eldar did with her wychblade.

The man nodded his head. "You have made a wise choice." He then turned his gaze across from him, to the Ork who had been surprisingly quiet. "Iz not care aboutz dese puny Eldar, nor you humiez or Chaos boyz. Iz only care aboutz a WAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He screamed the last word, causing each of us to wince at the volume. The Ork fixed the man with a stare. "Youz promised me a proper WAAAAGH."

The man nodded. "And as you have heard, you shall have one."

The Ork then reached to his back, where a rather large hammer was stored. He unstrapped it and held it for a moment. "Den Iz with ya, and so iz de boyz." With that he smashed the hammer down onto the table, which I was afraid would simply fall to pieces. Instead, the head of the hammer went through the table, where it immediately got stuck and sat there, the head buried into the table and the handle sticking up into the air.

Four pairs of eyes then turned to face myself and Uriah. I was torn. I wanted to agree to this mission, I wanted to take out my pistol and set it on the table, but something was holding me back, a nagging feeling. Perhaps it was my inborn hatred of Chaos, perhaps it was my long years of service to the Inquisition, but something was keeping me from agreeing. I went over it in my mind again and again. I had just witnessed the two Eldar put aside their differences, at least for the moment, and agree to work together. I was certain that grievances would come up later, but for the moment they were together. So why then could I not bring myself to work with Chaos, even temporarily? I could feel the pressure of those eyes on me, like a physical weight bearing down on my shoulders. The room seemed to be growing larger, with the power armor clad figure across from me receding into the distance as my vision swam around. I could feel my knees going weak as they threatened to collapse under me, but I refused to let that happen. Suddenly, there was a true pressure on my shoulder, something that I could focus on.

I turned to see that Decem had placed his hand on me, looking like he was simply trying to keep himself upright, yet at the same time, providing me with something to lean against, to take some of the pressure off of me. I quickly used the cover he had provided me to get myself under control, and resolved to give him anything he wanted when we got back to the ship.

As I was righting myself, a voice spoke up. "We were once loyal members of the Imperium, Space Marines fighting in the Emperor's name." All eyes turned to Uriah as he spoke. Our Primarch was one of the Emperor's own sons. Yet, once, the Primarch uncovered evidence of corruption with the Emperor, and he refused to fight for Him anymore. For that, we were branded heretics, our Primarch was murdered by an agent of the Emperor, and we have lived as heretics ever since. Yet, unlike Chaos, we have simply renounced the Emperor, not worshipping those foul gods. Yes it is true that some of us have fallen to Chaos, as will happen when you spend over ten thousand years with something, but there are those of us like myself who refuse to acknowledge the Chaos gods." The armored giant fixed me with a stare. "A position which you find yourself in now if I am not mistaken."

The man hit the rivet on the head with that one. Awareness washed over me with an uncomfortable feeling, like being dunked in an icy river. I had of course heard of the Night Lords before, about how they had thrown their lot in with Chaos against the Imperium, but I had never taken the time to actually speak with one of them before, preferring the tried and true method of killing them before they can kill me, and then calling in heavy artillery just to be sure. I even knew that they were suspected of not being influenced by Chaos, at least not overtly. Yet for me to hear now that I was in the same position as a person who by most everyone was thought of as one of the Great Enemy, was a wake-up call.

Everything that had happened over the last few weeks, ever since I had met the man, had been difficult. From keeping a secret from my fellow Inquisitors, to having the secret found out, to losing a friend and a home, to now being on the run from everything we had once called home, everything normal.

The Night Lord spoke again. "The path you have chosen is not an easy one. I was there when we made the decision to cut ties with the Emperor. I was part of the assault on Terra with Horus. It has been more than ten thousand years since then, and to this day it is hard. Living amongst Chaos, surrounded by it and all its deprivations for that long, I do not blame my brothers for succumbing to it. Yet each time another one falls, I feel as if we perhaps made a mistake. Each time one falls to Chaos, it is almost worse than death. At least if a battle-brother dies, he dies with honor. If he should fall to Chaos, then he loses his honor, he has lost sight of what made us break from the Emperor in the first place. All you can do though, is believe in the choices that you make."

If I had a list of the things that I expected to do in my life, receiving a lecture from a fallen Space Marine was not even on that list. To see that something which to me was indistinguishable from Chaos was leading the same life that I was now doomed to was an experience I never thought I would get. The fact that this large man was actually a good orator also did not help me. He spoke with such a smooth voice, I would have almost liked it better if he screamed at me. At least then I could equate it with a normal Chaos Marine and could continue to live happily in my ignorant little world.

Without saying another word, the only honorable Fallen Marine I had ever known picked up his eviscerator chainsword and placed it down on the table. The meaning behind the action was clear to everyone present.

I let out a great inward sigh as everyone turned to face me. I reached my hand inside my coat and unsheathed my dagger, taking it out and holding it up for a moment, as if examining it. In that one moment, everything that I had ever been through floated through my head, from my childhood, to my indoctrination into the Inquisition, to all of my gallivanting around the galaxy on Inquisition sanctioned adventures. I thought back to everything I had done, which had all lead up to me being here, at this exact moment, about to make a choice which would determine my future, and the futures of everyone serving under me, forever.

Silently I offered up a prayer to whoever would listen, and placed my dagger down on the table. "Alright," I said. "I'm in."

The man smiled for the first time since we had all convened in this room. "Excellent. Now we have much to discuss and not a lot of time to do it in, so let's get started."


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Hey guess what? I'm not dead! This fic isn't dead! Whee! I love exclamation points!**

**Anyway, now that that's out of my system, on with the story...**

Chapter 13

I stepped through the portal and into Decem's office on the ship, quickly moving aside to make room for the owner of the office to come through. It had been a long meeting, exactly how long impossible to tell due to the fact that my wrist chrono stopped working entirely at some point.

Decem nearly fell through the portal in his haste to get back to something familiar. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he said looking back as the portal simply vanished.

I nodded. "I've been through a few times and I still find it odd. I just wish you could see what was on the other end rather than just black."

I glanced over at the chrono on the wall behind his desk. According to it, only a few hours had passed since we left, although it seemed like so much longer in the meeting. But seeing as to how the meeting was mostly everyone arguing over a plan, it took a long time for everyone to agree to one plan. Finally though, we all agreed on a plan and now all that was left was to enact it.

Decem stumbled over to his desk and grabbed the bottle of amasec that was still on top of it. Not even bothering with a glass he simply turned it over and swallowed some of it. "I needed that," he exclaimed as the bottle hit the desk with a thud. He sank into his chair. "I can't believe what I… What we just agreed to do. The crew is going to mutiny, you know that right?" he asked.

"It's a possibility," I admitted. "But if we explain it to them, why this has to happen, it's possible they won't as well."

Decem looked straight at me. "The crew is already on edge after we had to fire on an Imperial warship. Now adding aliens into the mix is like putting out a fire by throwing promethium at it."

I matched his gaze. "We don't really have a choice. This is the only plan that everyone could agree on. If you want to tell everyone that we've changed our minds, go right ahead." I could see in his eyes that he wouldn't do that. The last thing either of us wanted was to be stuck in a room with a bunch of yelling aliens in it. On the plus side though, I learned how to curse fluently in Eldar just by listening to Vech as he yelled at Valentia. At least I'm assuming that it was cursing.

"Well, I've got to go inform the operatives of what's going to happen next. We still have about two weeks before we get to port. Once we are docked, then we will gather the crew and let them know what is going on. Do you think you can keep them together until then?"

Decem nodded. "Yeah, most of them trust you." After a pause he added. "Although there are a few who are more hotheaded than the rest. I would suggest putting them on different rotations."

I waved a hand in the air. "It's your ship, run it how you see fit. Just keep the crew together until we hit port. After I explain it to them, if any of them want to jump ship, then they are welcome to."

With that said, I turned around and left Decem's office. Making my way through the corridors, which were mostly empty being the night shift, I passed a few crewmen and women who nodded at my passing. I could see the confusion on their faces. As regular crewmembers, they were used to being left out of the loop for the most part, only knowing enough about the current mission to do their jobs. But normally we don't engage loyal Imperial vessels in combat, nor do we flee because another Inquisitor is after us. What we were doing was so far outside the norm that many of them were simply wondering if I had finally lost my marbles, which was quite possibly true. I could have never imagined myself doing what I was about to do.

My thoughts followed me all the way to the lounge area where I saw that only Aki and Ailish were still up. I assumed that the others were in their cabins or in the case of Trelli in the observation room perhaps. I wasn't surprised to see Ailish up, she could go over a week without sleep thanks to her implants. Aki though, was a surprise.

The two of them looked like they were in the middle of a conversation when I walked in. Looking up and spotting me, Aki stopped talking and her eyes went wide. "You're back."

"Yeah, just got back. The man dropped us in Decem's office."

"So what did you learn?" Ailish asked. "Do you know what is going to happen next?"

"I do, and you're not going to like it." I reached a chair and sat down heavily. "But I'm not going to explain myself twice, so I think I'll wait until morning when everyone is here to explain."

Aki shook her head. "No need to wait that long." She slipped a comm-bead in her ear and tapped it. "Arianna's back."

I cocked my head and looked at her, furrowing my brow.

"We decided to set up a watch system for when you came back. It's my turn, and the others are all wearing comm-beads so we all know when you're back."

I nodded, comprehension dawning over me. "Okay… You know that we can't do anything until we hit port in two weeks anyway, right? So there's no need to rush."

Aki sighed. "We know, but that's not going to stop us." She smiled at me. "You know how anxious we get."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because you are all walking bundles of energy and stress."

"Exactly," she said.

No sooner had we finished that pointless conversation than Hecuter came bursting into the room. Upon spotting me he rushed over. "So what did you learn?" he asked.

I could literally smell the alcohol on his breath. Before I could shoo him away though, Aki sat up and grabbed his elbow, pulling him into the seat she had just vacated. "Sit," she commanded. Her tone brokered no argument. Turning to me, she apologized. "Sorry, he's been hitting the amasec hard tonight." Turning back to him she said, "Apologize to her, now!"

"Sorry," he responded immediately.

I chuckled at them. "Well now, I see who wears the pants between you two." Aki just favored me with a glare.

Showing more energy than usual, Mordecai came walking into the room. Almost instantly he bombarded me with questions about what had transpired where I was. I held up a hand to get him to stop. "Mordecai, I will explain as soon as everyone is here, which means we are waiting on Trelli and Xandria."

No sooner had I said her name than the black clad warrior appeared. Her mask was off revealing her face, which was sweaty. I assumed that she had been working out. She spoke not a word and simply went and leaned against the wall, falling easily into old habits.

The room was deathly silent as we waited for our final member to appear. I was just about to suggest we call this whole thing off and go to bed when Trelli stumbled into the room. "I'm here," he announced. His large, tattooed arms pinwheeled for a moment before he righted himself.

Great, I thought to myself. Half of my team isn't going to remember anything that I said in the morning.

Pushing those thoughts aside as Trelli sank into a chair, I prepared to give them either the best news they have ever had, or the worst.

"Okay, since everyone is here I'll explain what I learned. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them throughout, just interrupt me."

I took a deep breath and launched into things. "Decem and I were put into a room which pretty much consisted of a large table. We were the first ones there, but as it turns out we are not the only ones that the man has contacted about this mission. Another portal opened up and out came a Night Lord."

There were gasps around the room. "A Night Lord? But that's Chaos!" Aki said.

Mordecai had this expression on his face that meant he was about to launch into a diatribe. I decided to beat him to the punch. "Not exactly. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not, but ten thousand years ago, their Primarch found out about the Emperor and what he was doing. He became disillusioned by it and so from that the Night Lords were cast out. Most of them remain loyal to the mankind, just not the Emperor. Yes some have fallen to Chaos, but not all of them. The one in that room with me was one who is still loyal to mankind. One of the good ones, so to speak."

The looks around the room ranged from comprehension to doubt, but no one spoke up again so I continued.

"The man also contacted a few aliens as well, an Eldar, a Dark Eldar, and an Ork." The room exploded into protest.

"Eldar can't be trusted."

"An Ork can understand this?"

"Dark Eldar!"

I raised a hand to signal for quiet. Slowly everyone quieted down. "Remember, we were approached because the man saw something in us. Well whatever he saw in us he also saw in these other creatures. And the man was right, because each of them has pledged to support this mission."

I figured that this was as good a time as any to drop the biggest bombshell on them. "And you had all better be on your best damn behavior, because in a few weeks, these… people will be on this ship."

I had expected another uproar, but the room was curiously silent after that. Finally Ailish spoke up. "I assume them being here is part of the plan."

I nodded. "Yes. Per the plan that all five of us and the man agreed on, they will be on this ship, along with a component of troops from each of them." I fixed them each with my strongest glare. "And you will all play nice. No fighting with them, no arguing."

"So we're just going to let some aliens run all over our ship?" asked Mordecai.

"Not quite. They will have access to certain parts of the ship such as hangar bay Alpha, the mess hall, and other non-critical parts of the ship. But as for the bridge, enginarium, and other more critical areas, they will not be allowed without an escort. And they will definitely not be allowed in your private rooms unless you specifically invite them in. Everyone clear on this?"

There were nods and acknowledgements around the room. "Good. So the plan that we agreed on is fairly simple, which is good since what we are up against pretty much amounts to guesses and crapshoots." I backed up. "But I should start by telling you what we our mission goal is."

I took in a deep breath. "You all know that the Tyranids are a grave threat to the galaxy. But no one has realized just how much of a threat until now. It turns out that there is one central being controlling all of the Hive Queens. The theory is that if we kill that being, then the Tyranids will essentially be broken."

I paused for a moment then let the other shoe drop. "As it stands now, a galaxy divided like we are, more concerned with killing each other than countering the outside threat, will fall to the Tyranids. You all know just how much of the galaxy has been lost already. Compare that to how many Hive Fleets we've destroyed. The evidence is there."

I could tell that they each knew what I was saying was true. It seemed like the most basic of things to understand, but the human mind can do amazing things to hide the truth if it doesn't like it. Yet all it takes is one person pointing out the obvious before the whole thing comes crashing down. When a person is faced with such a truth and has nowhere to hide from it, most would shrink away, or curl gibbering into a corner. Not my team though.

Together we have faced down death before and come out alive. We were used to it, as bad as that sounds. We had been in situations before where death seemed almost inevitable, yet we still pulled through. It was with a point of pride that I noticed they all did not seem too put off by the "revelation."

"So our goal is simple, we just need to kill the most powerful creature the Tyranids have, possibly the most powerful creature in the galaxy."

There was silence before it was broken by Trelli. "Well that's easy. I thought this was gonna be some hard mission." He smiled as he spoke.

Chuckles and laughter was heard around the room. "When you put it that way, it is easy. And we won't be alone in this. Each of the others is bringing some troops along with them.

"But… there is a kink in the plan. The plan requires the use of this ship with the aliens on it. So we, well I, need to tell the crew about having the aliens on board. I plan to tell them when we hit port, which will be shortly before the aliens join us. The hope is that any dissenters will either jump ship, or not have enough time to plot something against our visitors. Also, that will give us enough time to get out of there before any pursuers might show up. If Quintessa is still alive, she will be hunting us, and she will be pissed 'cause we blew up her ship. Whatever chance of leniency we might have had, we destroyed."

"So let me get this straight. We are joining forces with aliens and heretics and taking down a big scary creature," Hecuter said.

I nodded. "That pretty much sums it up."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Okay."

I blinked. That was not the answer I had been expecting. I was expecting outrage, an argument, hell I'd even planned for an outright mutiny. Instead, looking at the people all around me I could only see acceptance.

My confusion must have shown because Hecuter cracked a smile. He glanced around at everyone. "We all got to talking while you were away. Mordecai here," he gestured to the old man, "told us all about his theories and we decided that no matter what happened, we were with you 'til the end."

"No matter what," chimed in Aki, looking proudly at Hecuter.

"And you're all in agreement to this?" I asked.

Each of them nodded their heads, even Ailish. It seemed the death of her best friend had unlocked a hidden potential in her. Her gaze was set and her eyes steely, she looked ready to take on the whole Tyranid fleet single-handedly.

"Well then, I suppose it's time I laid out this plan for you in detail. We've got a few weeks before we meet up with the others, which gives us that long to iron out all the details on our part in this plan, practice for it, and inform the crew about our visitors and hope that they don't jump ship at port."

I began to go over the details of the plan, explaining what we were expected to do as well as what each of the others was going to be doing. They had some questions of their own that they asked about the plan, but each question involving what enemies we were going to be facing, the layout of the Tyranid ship, where the thing was located, all the answers pretty much boiled down to guesswork and 'I don't know' answers.

It was an hour later that I wrapped up the briefing. "So do you all understand what we will be doing?" Heads nodded all around. "Good. Because now comes the fun part. Everyone get some good sleep tonight, because I want to see each and every one of you in the training room after breakfast."

With that I shooed them all out of the lounge and to their rooms. I retired to my own room and closed the door, suddenly feeling exhausted. Ignoring the datapads on my desk in favor of collapsing on the bed, I fell asleep without even bothering to get under the covers.

The next morning I awoke feeling grimy and still tired. After a quick shower and change of clothes I began to sort through the messages left for me on my desk. Most were simply updates on the ship's activities, and since nothing was flagged as urgent or otherwise needing my attention, I dismissed them. The others were equally boring and I swept the whole pile to the side.

My stomach rumbled, but according to the chrono on the wall, the morning shift wasn't scheduled to begin for another hour. The ship was still in night mode, the lights dimmed and most of the crew asleep. I managed to ignore my stomach until a particularly loud grumble threatened to wake everyone up.

Sighing to myself, I got up and left my cabin, making a beeline for the mess hall. Shuffling quietly, I simply spooned myself a bowl of cold soylens viridians, taking it to the closest table to eat.

It was only after I was seated and eating that the other person in the mess hall decided to intrude upon me. "Can't sleep either huh?" came a familiar voice.

I looked over to see Liliy sitting next to me, a plate of sweetbuns in front of her. I nearly jumped out of my chair. "You!" I exclaimed.

"Me!" she said back.

"But, this is impossible, you're dead. I saw you die."

Liliy looked shocked. "Really? Well then, that explains a lot."

I blinked but then settled back into my chair. "Okay, this is all some weird dream. I'm going to close my eyes and when I open them, she's not going to be there." I clenched my eyes closed for a moment before opening them.

She still sat there, smiling faintly. "Well, did it work?" she asked.

My brain faltered for a second before catching up. "That didn't work, so let's try another way." Unfortunately, all that way did was make my face hurt from hitting myself. "Right so if I'm not dreaming then I must be hallucinating. All the stress and lack of sleep is finally catching up to me."

Liliy picked up a sweetbun and took a bite. "So I'm dead and a hallucination." She grinned at me through flakes of sweetbun on her lips. "Man, Ari, you've cracked."

I gave the hallucination my best glare. "So then if you're a hallucination, why are you here?"

"I don't know. If I'm a product of your mind, you should be able to tell me that." She took another bite of the sweetbun.

"Right. Never argue with your own mind," I muttered. Resigning myself to simply be tormented, I went back to eating my food.

"So now you're just going to ignore me?" she asked.

"Yup." I concentrated on eating my food for a while.

The silence seemed to get to Liliy though, because after a few minutes she spoke again. "You know, since I'm here and all, you might as well talk to me."

"I don't have anything to say to you."

"Well the fact that I'm here says otherwise. If I really am just some figment of your warped mind, then it must be for a reason."

We both continued to eat in silence.

"Seriously Ari, I'm bored. Talk to me, tell me what you need to say." Her voice was growing whiny and going up in pitch, just like it used to when she was alive.

I grated my teeth and continued to ignore my own hallucination. Suddenly the patterns made in my food were very interesting. I dragged my spoon through the glop to see what designs I could shape out of it. Beside me I could still hear the smacking of lips as Liliy ate.

"Ari," she whined again, her voice going even higher. "Come on, just talk to me, please." She drew out the please, making it go on and on.

Finally I could feel myself snap, and all of the frustration and anger of the past month came boiling over. I grabbed the half-empty bowl and hurled it across the room where it shattered on the bulkhead, leaving an explosion of green glop behind. The pieces of bowl went everywhere, crashing and scattering.

"Emperor-Dammit fine! You want me to talk, I'll talk!" I turned in my seat and faced her directly. She looked unfazed by my outburst. I could feel myself losing control, emotions coming to the surface that I would normally keep bottled up and under control.

"I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you died, that I frakking got you killed. I screwed up and you paid the price."

Liliy smiled at that. A genuine smile which even reached her eyes. "That's a start. But I think there's more to this story than that."

"You're damn right." My anger was subsiding, but the hole was quickly being replaced with other emotions. I grabbed onto the anger and held it. Anger was an emotion that while I tried and not express it, I was familiar with it. These other emotions, I wasn't sure if I could cope with them.

"I frakked up and all you can say is 'that's a start?' Come on! You're a figment of my own imagination. Isn't this the part where my mind kicks my own ass?"

She just continued to sit there, smiling.

"Dammit! Say something!"

In response, she reached for another sweetbun and took a bite.

"What is it you want? Why are you here? Do what you came here to do and then leave me alone!"

Another bite.

The thing about anger is that it's hard to hold onto when the target of your anger is sitting right in front of you and not doing anything. Not protesting, not denying, not even accepting it. Just sitting there and smiling, eating a sweetbun. It's even harder to hold onto anger when the target of your ire is a friend, someone that you hold close to you. Even as I tried desperately to hold onto it, I could feel it slipping between my fingers like water. No matter how hard I tried it just kept flowing away.

As my anger subsided, new emotions vied against each other to take its empty spot. The internal conflict ending up only confusing me. Fleeting anger, sadness, rage, confusion, all roiled around me.

"I'm sorry that you died Liliy. I know that our line of work doesn't exactly include a long life expectancy, but you were so young. You had your whole life ahead of you, and now you're dead." Now that anger was gone, sadness seemed to be taking its place.

The smile on Liliy's face never faltered. "Perhaps I'm just a hallucination, but I know that I don't blame you Ari."

I looked up at her in shock. "What?"

She sighed. "I knew the risks when I signed up with you five years ago. You just said it yourself, low life expectancy." She chuckled for a moment. "Now I don't think I ever expected to die so soon, but still… I would say that I regret nothing."

"But you didn't have to die," I said. "I was going to pilot the shuttle away, lead the fighters away from the rest of you."

"At which point we would all be sitting here mourning your death." She was quiet for a moment before continuing. "Look, you and I both know several things. Piloting that craft was a suicide mission. I'm a better pilot than you. And, you are not expendable, but I am."

I opened my mouth to protest but she raised a hand, silencing me. "Don't even try to say I'm not. I'm just a pilot, a throne a dozen. You are an Inquisitor. And beyond that you are the one who holds this team together. Without you we would all fall apart and go our separate ways. Yet it's because we believe in you that we stay. If I didn't believe in you, I would have let you pilot that shuttle off to your death. But I didn't.

"You've always been so nice to me. I'm the youngest on the team, and the newest, but you were all so nice, made me feel welcome. Even when you were teasing me." Liliy kept smiling throughout this. "I knew that no matter what, the team needed to go on. If that meant sacrificing myself, then so be it."

I didn't know what to say to that. I wanted to reach out and hug her, but I still wasn't sure whether she was actually there or not. I didn't want to do anything to risk breaking the illusion if she wasn't real. Instead I finally gave her a smile of my own.

"That may all be true, but it's just not right that you had to die. There had to have been some way that I could've saved us all."

Liliy shook her head. "No. Stop beating yourself up. Everything happened so fast that, no matter how much we practiced, we were mostly making things up as we went. There was no way you could have known about the fighters, or that they would be on us so quickly." She reached out her hand and grabbed the last sweetbun, holding it out to me. "Realize that there's nothing you could have done. Move on and stop blaming yourself. The team needs you. Without you, there's no way this crazy-ass plan of yours will work. And then, that's really when people will start dying."

I grabbed the pastry, holding it in my hand for a minute. As I stared at the swirls of dough, covered in sticky frosting, I knew that what she was saying made sense. As the Inquisitor, the core of the team, I was responsible for holding everything together. As Liliy would say, I'm the frosting of the sweetbun, covering it all and making it what it is. Actually… The more I thought about that analogy, the less sense it made, which means it was exactly something that Liliy would say. I carefully took a bite out of the pastry. The flavor of the frosting and the sweet dough filled my mouth.

"Liliy, I'm so sorry."

"I know. Now stop feeling sorry and go out there and kick some ass for me." Her face got a wide grin on it. "If you don't come back in one piece, I swear that I will haunt you for the rest of your life. It will be an epic haunting too, full of weird sounds and things moving on their own."

I couldn't help myself, I laughed at the image of a ghostly Liliy in my cabin, moving things around and making odd noises. I laughed so hard that I started to cry. Soon, I could hear Liliy laughing right along with me.

"No offense," I said between laughing, "But you would make a terrible, scary ghost."

"Hey," she pouted, "I can do scary." She then tried to make a scary face which only served to make me laugh even harder.

When I could finally breathe again, I spoke up. "Thank you Liliy, thank you for talking to me."

She nodded. "You're welcome. After all, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't come back here and kick your ass when you need it?"

"So what happens now? Are you really a ghost or vision or something? Or are you just some product of my imagination, a hallucination?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, I don't know what happens now. That's up to you. As for your other question, well…" She trailed off there.

"What? Don't tell me that you don't even know what you are."

"Arianna?" I heard a voice say behind me. I turned around to see Aki, standing in the doorway to the mess hall. She had a very confused look on her face. "Who are you talking to?"

I opened my mouth to respond and turned back around, only to find the seat next to me empty. I looked down, at the sticky frosting still covering my hands, and at the slowly dripping mess on the wall across from my seat, pieces of shattered bowl scattered on the floor. I blinked, my mind processing what had just happened.

"No one. I'm talking to no one Aki," I responded at last.

I heard her footsteps as she came over to me. "Are you okay?" she asked. I could tell she wanted to comfort me, but being an untouchable, she couldn't without causing me great pain.

"I'm fine, really I am." I smiled at her to prove it. I could tell that she wasn't buying it though. "What time is it?"

She glanced at her wrist chrono. "It's just after morning shift start, why?"

"Go wake the others, tell them to meet me in one hour in the training room, we've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. Our training starts now."

She nodded and left the room, giving me one final glance before she left.

Knowing her, I would be forced to answer some questions sooner or later, and knowing me, I would eventually break down and divulge what had happened. But for now, I looked once more at the now empty seat next to me, still not sure whether what I saw was a ghost or just a hallucination of my sleep-deprived brain. Either way though, I knew that talking with her, hearing her say those things, was exactly what I needed right then.

"Thank you Liliy."

**Second AN: Right, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Those of you who have been reading this since the beginning know that I rarely have author's notes, so I'll keep this brief. I will try and get back on some kind of a regular updating schedule with this story. Hopefully nothing will come up and I can get you your story sooner. Thank you so much those of you who are reading this, and a big thank you to reviewers. You guys and gals keep me writing.**

**All right, I'm done.**


End file.
